By Petrina Francis, Education ReporterTHE JAMAICA Teachers' Association (JTA) is rejecting the 'slow pace at which repairs are being effected' on some schools that were extensively damaged by hurricane Ivan, which ravaged the island in September last year.
Michael Clarke, president of the association, said that a number of schools which were damaged is yet to be repaired, and he is calling on the Ministry of Education to state when these schools would be repaired.
He was speaking at the fouth annual bursars' conference media lunch held at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston on Tuesday.
Mr. Clarke said that until everyone realises that the goal of a good education is to prepare the children for the world of work, then we are fooling ourselves.
"No task force recommendation is going to change it unless we examine the curriculum in order to ascertain its relevance to the present realities," said the JTA president.
He continued: "While we can say that it ought not to be business as usual, the entire
education system must be
re-engineered. We can't have university graduates with
bachelor's and master's degrees experiencing difficulty in
gaining employment."
Mr. Clarke therefore advised prospective university students "to do an analysis of the current labour demand and supply and be trained to meet these growing demands."
