EDITORIAL - Find creative ways to reach out to youth

Various news reports in the last month or so have helped to remind us of the high level of corporate philanthropy which has been nurturing the growth and educational development of talented youth all across Jamaica.

The foundations of the National Commercial Bank, Jamaica National and Bank of Nova Scotia, and corporate giants like Sagicor, have spent many millions of dollars to ensure that our brightest and best are rewarded with scholarships, grants, bursaries and other support in order to achieve their educational goals at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

Corporate bodies are making this investment in education because they understand too well that quality education is a core component of sustained economic growth. Yet, let's not forget that there is a large pool of marginalised youth across the country whose basic educational needs are not being met. Many of them leave school illiterate, unable to communicate, lacking in social skills, unable to think logically, or solve problems or handle conflict.

So even though it is laudable that corporate philanthropy will assist in the education of the best and brightest, the Government, teachers' union, parents and other education stakeholders must find creative ways of delivering quality education to more of the nation's children so that Jamaica can have access to a skilled workforce. Jamaica also needs innovative leadership to take the country to First-World status.

FACING REALITY

What is not so well documented, however, is the level of individual giving that occurs. Yet people of goodwill continue to assist parents in procuring books, uniforms and other supplies necessary to equip students as they pursue their dreams. We talk glibly about free education, but the reality is that there are many families who are living on the edge and simply cannot find the basics to send their children to school.

There is no doubt that the education policy that we implement today will define our future. It is also true that the best-educated people have the best potential for finding jobs and earning well.

Interestingly, this is also the time of year when many of our brightest graduates make the trek to some of the world's reputable campuses in North America and Europe. The United States attracts annually more than 700,000 foreign students, with many of them being high achievers in their country of origin. These scholars will likely be trained in a variety of 21st-century skills that are not readily available in small countries like ours.

It is inevitable that some students will go abroad. But while we embrace this inevitability, there has to be some national initiatives to retain those we have trained locally and to recruit those who got their education overseas.

A key issue to consider is whether these scholars will ever return to Jamaica and put their tremendous skills to work, or whether they will add to the so-called brain drain that has deprived the entire Caribbean of its human capital.

The current global competition for human capital is fierce, and our local private sector must devise strategies enabling them to reach out to Jamaicans in the diaspora and entice them to return home and be part of the nation-building process.

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