From humble beginnings to a hub of learning, the Excelsior Education Centre has undergone a powerful transformation. What started as a vision to support underserved students has grown into a dynamic system of five institutions—including a community college, teacher training, and early-childhood education. 

Published Saturday, May 24, 1980

GG Sees EXED Centre as a project of vision, magnitude

The Excelsior Community College was officially opened by Governor General the Most Hon Florizel Glasspole on Mountain View Avenue on May 21.

The governor general spoke of the vision and magnitude of the project, which had already started to pay dividends in the form of the human material being turned out by the five institutions that comprised the EXED Centre.

In tracing the historical development of the EXED Community College, Miss Ivy Baxter, head of the evening division, said that it was all the idea of the Hon A.W. Powell, OJ.

He had successfully masterminded a school to serve the needs of children who were too old and too poor to enter into the higher educational system of the 1930s as it existed at the time, she said.

System
At the time of Independence, he conceived the idea of EXED. The Excelsior Education Centre was a system of five institutions: the pre-primary; the secondary - first Shift; the secondary - second Shift; the Community College - Day; and the community college - Evening. A library and learning centre were also a part of this system.
Financial support was sought by Mr Powell locally and overseas. One of the first contributions was that of Caribbean Cement Company, and one of the most important was the land which was given by the Government at that time, led by the Hon Hugh Shearer, she said.

These lands —11 acres or so — were given to the Methodist Church, and the present Government arranged to give an additional 34 acres, and the buildings that are in place at present.

Miss Baxter pointed out that the Excelsior High School was the institution upon which the graph of innovation was made. In 1970, a sixth-form teacher training project began.
In subsequent years, the teacher training project separated entirely from the high school, and together with new developments in nursing, business, and pre-university, formed the day community college in 1974, which is totally ministry-supported.
In 1972, there were two new developments: the beginning of the evening Division of the Community College and the institution of the pre-primary School, which did not, however, fall into the Ministry of Education establishment.

The director, said Miss Baxter, had the task of steering this combination of five schools towards the stated goals of this system. These goals include the establishment of lifelong education, the development and use of already-developed curricula relevant for Jamaicans of the seventies and eighties, and the inclusion in the curricula of the needs of the community.

Miss Baxter said that EXED was “not a confusion and not an empire, but rather, a unique opportunity for the children, adults, and youths of this urban community of Kingston". She said that it had a history, present and future developments, which could truly live up to the motto 'Education for the Nation'.

The function was chaired by Mr Anthony Johnson, chairman of the board of the college, and the act of dedication was performed by the Rev Terrence Rose, acting chairman of the Jamaica District, Methodist Church.

Certificates were presented to students of the evening division of the college who were successful in the London and GCE Ordinary Level examinations during 1978–1979. In addition, first-year nursing students of the Day Division of the college received their caps and made their pledge, which was administered by Miss Gertrude Swaby, former nursing tutor of the Kingston School of Nursing.

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