It is reasonable to expect that every time the minister of education, Andrew Holness, speaks on education matters, it would centre around improving literacy in the island's schools. And, by extension, an improvement in examination results, be it internal, like the Grade Four Literacy Test and the Grade Six Achievement Test, or external, like the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate.

Examination performance

However, at a recent education forum at Friendship Primary School in Spanish Town, St Catherine, the minister made a departure from his usual script. He prefaced his speech by stating that the literacy levels of students and examination performance are always important and not to be discounted. He then made the following statement which seemed to have caught many people off guard.

"My vision," the minister stated in a measured tone, "is to make Jamaicans happy, to give them a sense of well-being, to give them the opportunity to care for their fellow men."

He then went on to lament the state of the island in terms of the widespread anger and strife, the glorification of crime and violence, and what he termed as 'the regression of our culture". Holness also bemoaned the state of the family structure, which he said has deteriorated steadily over the last 40 years.

The minister spoke of the need to get back to core values, values of the kind that was instilled in him by his great-grandmother. He said that the education system must be the arm of Government to correct this imbalance.

Counselling departments

Currently, the values and attitudes agenda is alive and well in the schools, largely being coordinated through the guidance and counselling departments. This needs to be strengthened to include the parent-teacher associations in a real way. Other arms and agencies of the Government, the Church, private-sector groups and civic organisations need to come on-board too.

The minister is right. It is no good if the schools are mass-producing educated criminals. This matter should be the concern of every well-thinking person. We all need to play our part.

Currently, the values and attitudes agenda is alive and well in the schools, largely being coordinated through the guidance and counselling departments. This needs to be strengthened to include the parent-teacher associations in a real way.