Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/3093/-1/135/
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ANGUILLIAN YOUTH TOLD: Educate Yourselves For Top Jobs
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Young Anguillians have been told to take advantage of the many opportunities now available to them to educate themselves in preparation for the top jobs on the island. This was the central theme of the debate in the House of Assembly on December 2 when the Caribbean Examinations Bill, 2005 was introduced by Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers.
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Members of the Government side of the House of Assembly
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The Bill, which had the unanimous support of the House (in the absence of Opposition Member Hubert Hughes), gave the formal stamp of approval to the agreement for the operation of the Caribbean Examinations Council which sets the regional exams in schools. The agreement, to replace the British overseas exams, took effect in 1972 but it was only in 1995 that Anguillian students began writing the more culturally relevant and appropriate examinations. Over the years they have progressively done very well and within the past few years, in particular,many of them have scored one and two grades and obtained up to eight and nine subject passes.
Mr. Rogers observed, however, that while some students had shown much academic prowess by achieving top grades, others were obtaining four and five non-passing grades. “Mr. Speaker, it is incumbent upon all of us, government, non-governmental organisations and the private sector, to create more opportunities not only for those who obtained a one and two grade level pass in the subjects but for those who were less fortunate academically,” Rogers said.
“I say this because when you look at the economic progress of Anguilla, that progress will be short-lived if the success is not filtered down to every level in society,” he went on. “Our students, with non-passing grades, must be catered for as they have a place in society as well as those with grades one and two passes. We are at a stage in our development where Anguilla needs as many trained individuals as possible. Some of our private institutions must take into consideration that while they have to apply to the Government for work permits for non-Anguillians, they should identify the positions they have and work with us in partnership so that we can put programmes in place to address their needs as well as provide jobs for our school leavers.”
Opposition Member, Edison Baird, stated that many jobs were becoming available but that many of the island’s young people were not taking advantage of the opportunities because they had not qualified themselves. “We have to get the message out there that being an Anguillian only fulfills one of the elements in getting a job. You have to be qualified,” declared Mr. Baird, an educator, political scientist and parliamentarian, who admitted that he was a high school drop-out but had since educated himself. “You got to be qualified. You got to be experienced. And, of course, being an Anguillian, gives you an advantage.”
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Members of the Government side of the House of Assembly
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Baird added: “If I who dropped out of high school can discipline myself to go off to university in America and Canada and come back to serve this country, how is that these young fellows…can’t qualify themselves? This is why we are giving validity to the CXC examinations.
“We provided a number of scholarships for Anguillians to go abroad to come back because we are going to have a situation when, all the projects come on stream, the government of the day might have no choice but to import supervisors and managers for the simple reason that the young people of this country are not fully utilizing the opportunities being made available to them.
“There are so many opportunities in Anguilla and it pains me to see that they are not making use of the examinations. They can go to evening classes or do it the way I did it. When a foreigner who is qualified and experienced comes in, they nevertheless believe they can step ahead of that foreigner simply because he or she is not an Anguillian…I want to see Anguillians rising up and taking advantage of all the opportunities that are now coming stream. I don’t want to go to a hotel and see the middle and top positions occupied by non-Anguillians. I don’t have anything against foreigners. Anguillians must come first. All I am saying to them is take advantage of the opportunities.”
Both First and Second Nominated Members, Keesha Webster and Donna Banks, respectively welcomed the long-overdue Caribbean Examinations Bill and applauded the Government for taking it to the House of Assembly. They spoke highly of the increasing results in the examinations shown by many Anguillian students. At the same time they observed that it was necessary to assist those students who were not doing well in their studies and suggested that more emphasis should be placed on vocational and technical training for them.
Acting Chief Minister, Victor Banks, said that the CXC, like the other overseas examinations before, gave young people an opportunity build a platform for their further personal development in education. He stated that it was important not only for government to have those kind of examinations in place but exams that were relevant to the culture of the region. He joined other speakers in emphasing that young people in Anguilla should educate themselves to take advantage of the job opportunities being created through the economic development of the island.
“When we find people complaining about not being able to get the top jobs, we have got to ask ourselves the question: ‘Are we preparing our people for those kinds of jobs?’ In the last two months we found that our economy was heating and there was a great interest in Anguilla for investment and as a result a great need in particular for skilled labour and qualified people in the top echelons of business.”
Mr. Banks told the House: “We need to focus on education and to tell our youngsters that the way to participate in Anguilla’s development is not by finding apologies for their inability to succeed. They should do like the Honourable Member for Road North [Edison Baird]: take the initiative and prepare themselves to participate in Anguilla’s development at levels that will not only boost their status in the community, but also will boost the island’s development in a manner which says that the people of Anguilla have been truly involved in the process.”
Hon. Edison Baird
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