As recent events at the Ministry of Labour demonstrated, and as emphasised in yesterday's editorial, it is obvious that the country faces a severe problem of adult illiteracy and lack of certification. This is not only an economic problem. It is also a root cause of many social problems as well.

The absence of basic literacy and numeracy in our adult population has been amply documented. Likewise for the low levels of skill certification. The figure usually quoted is that about 75 per cent of our labour force lacks any formal training in the jobs which they are doing. We should note that this astonishing figure applies to the employed sector of our labour force and not simply to the unemployed.

Others have noted that the trend towards feminisation is also at work in the skills development area and that close to 80 per cent of HEART/NTA trainees in leading programmes are women. Male adult illiteracy and lack of certification is, therefore, a specially serious problem.

The overall cost structure in Jamaica makes huge expansions of low-skilled employment difficult to achieve. As a low/middle-income country Jamaica cannot compete with low-wage destinations in Asia and Africa. We, therefore, have no choice but to go for the middle range of skill sets. Skills development is therefore crucial to attracting investment, for reducing unemploy-ment, raising productivity and thereby raising incomes as well.

Without agreeing with those who would sideline early childhood education, it is apparent that adult literacy and skills development must also become a priority. As is our wont in Jamaica, the old JAMAL which had many achievements to its credit has been pompously renamed the Jamaica Foundation for Lifelong Learning. It is unclear what this has achieved, except the pushing of the issue of male adult illiteracy from centre stage where it belongs. All of this must be urgently reviewed and rethought by the new government because we cannot continue as we have been doing.

The efforts of our new Minister of Labour, Mr. Charles, to mobilise the HEART/NTA machinery to address the problem in construction on an emergency basis, are highly commendable. However, this problem requires more than emergency treatment and goes way beyond the construction sector. It calls for a comprehensive review by the Ministry of Education, backed up by the clout of the Prime Minister's Office. Instead of preoccupying himself with the arcana of cellphone usage in schools, perhaps the Honourable Minister could put his mind to addressing this far more urgent matter.

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