Less texting and more learning, PM urges students
PRIME Minister Bruce Golding is urging students to use cellphones and computers for learning instead of only texting friends and playing games.
At the beginning of the school year when pressure is being placed on government, teachers and parents to make the education system a success, Golding called on the students themselves to play their part — by learning.
“Teachers can teach, parents can support, but there is one thing that nobody can do for you, and that is to learn,” the prime minister said on Sunday.
Speaking to an audience of mostly parents and students at the Eastern Bell Education Programme (EBEP) awards ceremony at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge at the University of the West Indies, Golding noted how more accessible information is today compared to when he was in school.
Back then he had to trek to the Institute of Jamaica or the St Andrew Parish Library on Tom Redcam Avenue to access books, unlike today when “the museums and encyclopedias of the world” are available at the click of a computer mouse.
He urged them to use the computer to “get on top of that information” instead of “spending hours playing games on the computer” or “spending hours texting your friends” with the cellphone.
Golding advised the students to stay ahead of their class by reading the upcoming chapters of their books before it is taught in class. “Make good use of the opportunity you have,” he said.
He also advised parents to help their children by reviewing their homework. “Even if you don’t understand it yourself, demand to see the book,” he said.
This year, a total of 184 students from the constituency attending secondary and tertiary institutions received scholarships and grants valuing $3.5 million under the EBEP, which was started by member of Parliament for Eastern St Andrew Dr St Aubyn Bartlett in 2002.
They included 87 GSAT awardees from the five primary schools in the constituency.
More than 800 scholarships at all levels had been given out since its inception.
The number of tertiary awardees had mushroomed from 10 last year to 28 this year.
Dr Bartlett emphasised that the EBEP was not political in that the students are chosen by the school principals.
Noting the increasing number of awardees each year had put pressure on the programme, he urged the students to “put me in trouble next year by doing well on your exams”. (Jamaica Observer)