Pan American International Insurance Corporation and the Royal Barbados Police Force have been praised for bringing the Orleans Homework & Reading Assistance Programme to fruition, and joining together to educate young people in the New Orleans, St. Michael, community.

This appreciation came last Saturday as Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ronald Jones, addressed the programmes???s inaugural graduation ceremony, at the Pan American Life Insurance Company headquarters, Fontabelle, St. Michael.

Expressing pleasure at this collaborative response, Mr. Jones said: ???They recognise that education is integral to that transformation in the minds of our people, and the best place to start is among our youth.???

Noting that the older generation had now to teach the present about life and the journey to this point, the Education Minister pointed out that this must take the form of ???a gradual re-integration of our people back to first principles??? – in learning, civics and understanding the nature of their society, communities and their purpose here.

He recalled that for many years, Barbadian society stuck by the principle that ???it took a village to raise a child???. ???There was a level of discipline encouraged within the home and the community; within the home and the district; within the home and the village.

“And, it is on that foundation that we built a nation, emerging out of some of the most trying circumstances any people have ever undergone in the history of mankind,??? explained the former teacher.

The Education Minister also suggested that parents help children to understand the nature of their society and avoid being ???lost individuals???.

???Literacy and numeracy are important in creating that mental adjustment, that mental change for persons??? lives to be transformed. Attached to that must be an understanding of who we are. And, to know that, literacy has to be utmost in our efforts,??? he declared.

joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb

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