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| Minister of Education and Human Resource Development, Ronald Jones, offering words of??advice to students of the Lester Vaughan School. (A. Miller/BGIS) |
Opportunities for education should not be wasted.
This was impressed upon students of the Lester Vaughan School today as Minister of Education and Human Resource Development, Ronald Jones, addressed their morning assembly.
In a speech aimed at challenging and inspiring the students to strive to be the best they can be, the Minister urged the 900 odd student body to seize the opportunities provided for a good education.
Stating that small economies could ill afford to squander "one iota of its human talent or capital," Mr. Jones said, "You young people here must make full use of it [education] now.??
You don’t have to wait on anybody to tell you what you want to be. And, what you want to be is a positive individual to make a dynamic contribution to yourselves, your family, your community and your country and by extension to your world. That’s what you have to do.
"You want to see the fulfillment of God’s blessings in your life. You, to some extent, hold your lives in your hands, hold your educational, cultural, social and spiritual lives in your hands. How you express what you hold in your hands is going to be absolutely important to your future growth and development."????????
He impressed on the students that education was costly and told them that they needed to refrain from languid behaviour on their way to school, that would make them unpunctual. They were also implored to persevere and hold firm to the mantra ???Yes I/We Can’, as they continue to lift the school high.
The Education Minister, while praising the teachers for their sterling work, also had a word of advice for them, He said: "Know that your task is to teach the nation’s children… when you deny any of the young people, those are going to be the same young people [who] some day when you go into retirement, that you will fear…"??????
The school’s success in CXC, over the years, was commended by Minister Jones, who said it represented: "students and teachers working together for major change in your educational circumstances and then supported by the leadership of your school whose vision is clear."
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Board of Management of the School, Edward Tull in detailing the school’s upward path academically, said that in 2008, the school recorded 49.7% passes; in 2009 it rose to 56.4% and in 2010 the figure climbed to 63 %.
A slight drop over the 2010 figure, however, saw the results move to 61.8% in 2011.
Mr. Tull also praised those students who achieved five/six/seven passes at one sitting, noting that females outnumbered males in the number of subjects taken and the quality of their passes in the examinations.