Up Front
Education Minister Roy Boddenpledges to build ... A New High School
Cayman Islands internalexamination to be developed
Minister of Education, Human Resources andCulture, the Hon. Roy Bodden has promised that a new high schoolwill be built to serve Grand Cayman's eastern districts, duringhis administration.
Calling it one of his "missions" which he will see tocompletion, the Minister -- himself a former teacher in East End-- said that he was well aware of how the lack of a high schoolfor those districts affects children who have to get up earlyto travel to school, and the toll it takes on traffic conditionson the roads.
Speaking last Thursday, 7th December at his first press conferencesince taking over the portfolio of education, human resourcesand culture, Mr. Bodden told reporters that the government wasprepared to give its full backing to the establishment of theschool.
He disclosed that a concerned community leader had offered todonate acreage from a 25-acre site in the Frank Sound area forthe construction of the school, which will serve the districtsof North Side, Bodden Town and East End.
In a presentation that outlined the ministry's plans, Mr. Boddenalso stated that the ministry of education would be seeking toset up internal examinations for the Cayman Islands, pointingout that although the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) examsare taken as in other territories, Cayman has a different culturalfocus, based on a different type of economy.
The ministry, he said, will work to prevent incidents of childrennot graduating from schools. Noting that "children are thecountry's resources," he said that Caymanian children willbe a priority, but the school system is open to anyone of schoolage. "Government is not going to create any situation ofanimosity between children," Mr. Bodden said.
Mr. Bodden, who, since taking office has been on a tour of severalschools, along with Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Joy Basdeo and othereducation officials, said that these visits pointed to the needfor the ministry to be sensitive to the needs of the EducationDepartment. He said that the Permanent Secretary had already begunwork on a national education policy.
Vocational training and information technology were high on theministry's agenda, Mr. Bodden stated. He added that his ministrywould be working closely with the Ministry of Health and InformationTechnology to ensure that Cayman's children are prepared to meetthe challenges of the information technology age, and to generatenew revenue measures - based on information technology - for theislands. Vocational training, he said, would involve all the ministries.
Education must recognize the importance of the tourism industryand to this end, training in tourism will be introduced, in collaborationwith the Department and Ministry of Tourism, Mr. Bodden said."It will be a long term planning process to get childreninvolved in tourism and this must start from middle school - ages11 to 12," the minister emphasized.
He said that civic studies will be introduced as part of the school'scurriculum and to this end, a Memorandum was signed on Thursday,7th November and sent to the Education Department.
The department will also create a data system for students academicrecords from the time they enter the school system, Mr. Boddensaid.
Reporting on his attendance at the 14th Conference of EducationMinisters and permanent secretaries of UK Overseas Territoriesheld in Halifax, Canada, last month, Mr. Bodden said that theforum highlighted common challenges faced by micro states suchas the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Turks and Caicos Islands. Seychelles,he said was regarded as a model education system for other territories,given its cultural similarities, with an economy that is tourism-based.The conference pledged technical exchange between countries, Mr.Bodden said.
On human resource issues, the minister noted that there is a "criticalneed to meet the challenges of better labour legislation. Thelaws have to be revamped, with a view to introducing minimum wagesfor different categories of workers, he said.