Sir Howard Cooke GOVERENOR-GENERAL, The Honourable Sir Howard Cooke, will officially open the Museum of Education at the Mico College, 1A Marescaux Road in Kingston on March 31, starting at 4:30 p.m.
A joint effort of the college and the Museums of History and Ethnography at the Institute of Jamaica, the facility will house a permanent exhibition entitled Winds of Change: The Evolution of Education in Jamaica. This will feature a material and written display of the history and development of education in Jamaica.
As the name suggests, the exhibition will look at the evolution of Jamaica's educational system from the immediate post-Emancipation period to the present. Education for the largely black Jamaican population has progressed from basic instruction in the 3Rs (Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic) to a comprehensive system that facilitates education up to the very highest tertiary levels.
To tell this story, the exhibition looks at the contribution of missionary societies and generous trustees, to the establishment of some of the first schools in the island. It recalls the days when the main purpose of schools was to ensure that the newly-freed black population would remain on the plantations.
CEE TO GSAT
Winds of Change also explores the evolution of various aspects of education to better address the needs of the Jamaican student, including the move from the Common Entrance Examination (CEE) to Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) and GCE to CXC.
Dr. Claude Packer, principal of the Mico College, in emphasising the importance of this facility, stated, "The Museum of Education is another building block in the effort the nation is making to construct an edifice of its own. The Mico College is the most appropriate place in Jamaica to house the Museum of History and Education, since the education of free people began here in 1836 and its early graduates spent almost all their working lives preserving our educational heritage."
Students at Mico, other teachers' colleges, universities and local and international researchers are but a few of those slated to benefit from the opening of this facility. Teachers and students are also set to gain from the museum, which was established to promote and facilitate the subsequent use of museums, objects and interactive sessions in the classrooms.
Professor Ralston 'Rex' Nettleford, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, will deliver the main address at the ceremony, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, Senator Noel Monteith will also be in attendance.
JAMAICA JOURNAL
RE-LAUNCH
Meanwhile, the Institute of Jamaica is set to release the latest volume of its research publication the Jamaica Journal at a re-launch ceremony scheduled for April 1 at the Jamaica Library Service, 2 Tom Redcam Drive, Kingston 5.
Slated to hit store shelves soon, the Jamaica Journal features cultural icon and celebrated Jamaican writer and performer the Honourable Louise Bennett-Coverley. The articles are of high standard, covering issues in the arts, science and technology, literature, life and history.
Minister of Finance, Dr. Omar Davies, is one contributor, with an article titled 'The Wailers: Giving Thanks and Praise'. It is a discourse on the impact of the creative output of the group, which comprised Peter Tosh, Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, as it regards songs recorded in "giving thanks and praise to the Almighty".
It highlights their ingenuity in recording adaptations of original works (some secular), into songs of praise and the theology expressed through their music noting the "inextricable link between the music and the belief in the Almighty."
Bob Marley's conversion of Elvis Presley's Crying in the Chapel to Selassie is the Chapel was one interesting composition noted.
In keeping with the Institute's mandate, of "encouragement of literature, science and art" the Jamaica Journal appeals to a wide range of interests, satisfying both academia and the general public.
Dr. Kim Robinson-Walcott, editor of the Journal, stated that "The Journal has established itself in the 37 years of its existence as one of the most effective tools of recording and transmitting Jamaica's culture."
According to her, the current issue should attract different levels of readership based on the wide range of interest covered.
Professor Carolyn Cooper's controversial view of the "flamboyantly exhibitionist DJ" Lady Saw in her article, Lady Saw Cuts Loose, Female Fertility Rituals in the Dancehall, is one such article.
Female sexuality and the "assertion of female power" in the Jamaican dancehall is highlighted and compared to female fertility figures in the African culture.
This volume also includes Anthony R. D. Porter's article, 'Port Royal: Its Geological Heritage'.
The launch will feature readings of extracts from the magazine, and back copies of the Journal will also be on sale.
