Speech
Andrew Holness  ·  2026-09-17 21:48

The Current Standard of Education Is Not Sufficient to Support the Level of Growth Jamaica Needs

And yes, I will be the first to admit that the standard of education that we have today, it is not sufficient to carry the growth that the country needs. I'm very concerned about the education system, which is why we put in place the second iteration of the education transformation task force to review and to give us an idea as to what we need to do to transform education. And that work is being done as we speak to transform education. And you see the impact of the education system in the level of public discourse and analysis that is being carried out, whether it is through the media or people who have access to microphones who believe they are experts and some of the things that they say which turns out to be ultimate nonsense. We must produce people who are capable of higher-order thinking. And our education system needs to be developed along that lines to support our ambitions for growth. There are literally hundreds of peer-review studies which show the benefit of having students being able to learn in conditions that are conducive. Such conditions include being outdoors. Something by the way which many of our children don't get as much as they should. They are locked in homes behind screens playing with their telephones. Our children need to be in garden surroundings where they get to appreciate nature. This is not an argument to replace classrooms. Where did that come from? And people follow it as if it is the truth. They don't even listen. Again, the impact of the education system on how we reason. If there is one thing you will see about me is that I am not afraid to confront the nonsense. Because there must be a pole that remains true north. When all else goes off and gets distracted and misdirected, I go back to my point. There are literally hundreds [snorts] of peer review studies. And I'm very happy that there is a teacher in the system who gets it, who understands it, who, by her own words, conducts regular teaching with her children in outdoor circumstances because it improves the quality of learning. I commend that teacher. Now, this is a separate argument from the state of classrooms in Jamaica. The state of classrooms in Jamaica suffered from a lack of proper engineering design and planning many decades ago. In the same way that many of the houses that were constructed many decades ago suffered from the lack of engineering designs that accounted for weather and airflow and material use. In today's construction, we cannot continue to build hot boxes. That cannot continue. And so my observations of the impact of the changing climate on our classrooms, it is not a matter to be treated as comic relief. It is a serious matter which has to be incorporated in the designs of the six new STEM schools which we intend to build. Uh the Ministry of Education will not be allowed to build schools in the traditional way. They will not be building the conventional four-walled classrooms for these schools. We must introduce new ergonomic designs of classrooms to ensure that our children can learn in comfort. We're not planning on building the conventional bomb bunker schools that we have. We have to build new schools that reflect modern design, modern materials, are sustainable, understand the changing weather, but creates a new Jamaican. That is what we have to do. Unfortunately, there are those in our society who don't share that dream. They don't understand that vision. And you hear them speak. And I cringe every time I hear them because if they are allowed, they will lead this country to its past and not to its future. I make no apologies for these harsh words. Jamaica must wake up.