Let the church run public schools
So says the head of Jamaica’s National Transformation Programme, which was established in the Office of the Prime Minister to counter rising violent crime. The church, he insists, can do a better job than the education system of inculcating personal morality.
DIRECTOR OF the National Transformation Programme (NTP), Reverend Merrick ‘Al’ Miller, is calling on the Government to entrust the leadership of the nation’s primary and basic schools to the church.
Speaking to The Sunday Gleaner on the initiatives to be undertaken by the NTP, Miller criticised the current education system for not making moral character development a priority, along with academics.
The NTP, ‘A Fresh Start for Jamaica’ initiative, is a moral, value-based programme seeking to coordinate the activities of the church, state, business and civil society to tackle problems in the society. The programme, though independent of the Government, operates out of the Office of the Prime Minister.
“All we are doing with our present education system is trying to push kids through to pass an exam and, hence, we are creating persons who are not able to relate and to deal with the issues of life,” Miller states.
The head of a teachers’ union thinks Rev Miller’s comment is unfair but offers no suggestions for improvement.
In 2008, over 1600 persons were murdered in Jamaica. 2009 got off to an inauspicious start, with 13 killed during the first 48 hours of the new year.