DR. ADOLPH Cameron, secretary-general of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), has urged educators to get rid of the stigma attached to the killer-disease AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) to help in the fight to stop its relentless spread across Jamaica.Cameron, wearing his hat as president of the Jamaican Council for Adult Education (JACAE), addressed the problem of AIDS in his opening remarks to the JACAE annual general meeting last Thursday at the Alhambra Inn in Kingston.
Although he made no direct reference to the controversial sending home of children with AIDS by some private schools, Cameron's comments were immediately seen as significant, because of his position as secretary-general of the teachers' organisation.
STEM DISEASE SPREAD
"The spread of the disease must be checked. We need to get rid of the stigma that is in our minds," Cameron told the audience of mostly adult educators. He warned that if the progress of the disease were not checked, it would halt economic efforts in Jamaica.
"As a council, we have to discern that in this, there are learning opportunities and respond so that the country can move forward," he said.
Turning to the problem of crime and violence, the JACAE president said Jamaicans breathed a sigh of relief whenever they reached home, but the problem had got so bad that "even in your home you no longer feel safe."
"I am ashamed and saddened, especially by the killing of children, among the worst being the three whose throats were slashed (in St. Mary)," he said. "When we no longer care about the old and the young, we are in a bad place and we need to be concerned."
CURB VIOLENCE
But he urged the educators to do their part to help stem the rising tide of crime and violence, saying the problem was one which the entire country had to tackle together.
The meeting received a presentation on the notion of the Learning City, a concept which has excited planners in Europe and more recently, Canada. A fortnight ago, Jamaica hosted two representatives from the Halifax-based Mount Saint Vincent University to begin discussions on how the concept could be tailored to meet Jamaican conditions.
In the presentation, Shermaine Barrett, lecturer in curriculum at the University of Technology, said Jamaica was ripe for implementation of the Leaning City concept, which called for the mobilisation of an area or region's entire resources around education.
"The philosophical underpinning of the concept is life-long learning for economic development and self-actualisation. Learning is a source of social reconstruction," said Barrett, who spearheads the JACAE committee studying the Learning City concept.
