'Showcase country's best on Jamaica Day' : "We want our children to understand their culture, who they are, where they are from... in the context of their various communities."

Friday, February 27, 2015    

TODAY'S celebration of Jamaica Day in schools is an opportunity to showcase the best examples of the island, according to event convenor Amina Blackwood Meeks.

Students celebrate Jamaica Day at a Corporate Area school
 in 2014. (OBSERVER FILE PHOTO)

"Jamaica Day is an opportunity to live one of the objectives in the Culture in Education Programme, which is to raise Jamaicans to be the best examples of Jamaicans to Jamaicans," she said.

Blackwood Meeks, who is also the director of the Culture in Education Programme at the Ministry of Education, reasoned that there is a community and education benefit to the observance of the day.

"We want our children to understand their culture, who they are, where they are from... in the context of their various communities. It (Jamaica Day) allows each of the schools to engage in community renewal projects, unique to where they are located, and build relationships with past student associations," she said.

While the majority of the schools will have the day's observance where they are located, the national focus will take place at the Norman Manley High School, in St Andrew, under the theme 'Celebrating Jamaica: Celebrating Regional Friendships From Boukman To Bolivar'.

BLACKWOOD MEEKS... we want our
 children to understand their culture,
who they are, where they are from (PHOTO: JIS)

There will be presentations from Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites; Minister of Finance and Planning Dr Peter Phillips; Mayor of Kingston Angella Brown Burke; and a representative of the Norman Manley Law School.

Guest speaker will be Venezuelan Ambassador to Jamaica, Jacqueline Mendoza Ortega.

The event will have a flag-raising ceremony, cultural presentations, as well as performances from students. more