Yahneake Sterling, Staff ReporterPRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson lauded the Anglican church for its continued commitment to education in Jamaica and its role in
giving access to children of all classes a high standard of learning.
"The Anglican church has demonstrated that it takes its educational and developmental responsibilities seriously," Mr. Patterson said at the launch of the Anglican Diocese of Jamaica and The Cayman Islands Education Fund at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Friday.
He added that the education fund is a demonstration of the church's continuing commitment to the principle that effective teaching is central to the delivery of good quality education.
"The teachers whom you will support by this fund will be the leaven in the loaf," the Prime Minister said. "If they exercise the stewardship and witness which you contemplate, then they will at the very least, be the saviour who has returned to the salt."
ACCESS AND EQUITY
Mr. Patterson explained that the Government has chosen to operate within a framework of access and equity, recognising that all of our children can learn and each of them must be given the opportunity.
He said, however: "Access cannot remain the only focus of our efforts, unless we increase the quality output exponentially over the remainder of this decade. The dream of a prosperous and secure Jamaica will elude us for far too long, no matter what the current campaign slogans are."
Currently the Anglican church has responsibility for 208 institutions islandwide including Church Teachers' College, St. Hilda's, The Queen's School, Kingston College, St. Hugh's High, DeCarteret College and Glenmuir High School.
For his part, the Reverend, the Honourable Alfred Reid, said the church should recommit to the task of education. "No country will ever produce real wealth if it does not devote some of its best minds to education and agriculture."
The fund established by the Anglican church will see some 124 teachers being educated.
