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published: Wednesday | September 13, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
The Editor, Sir:
As a historian, one of my main objectives is to remember facts. I want to remind Andrew Holness of the JLP, spokesman for <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">education</SPAN> of what his party did to Jamaica's education system in the 1980s.
My uncle who is now living in Tamworth, England attended <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Clarendon </SPAN><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">College</SPAN> in the 1960s. As a result of the education he received in the 1960s he is now a Senior Immigration Officer with the Home Office in England. He gained his Masters degree from Oxford <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; BORDER-BOTTOM: orange 1px solid; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">University</SPAN>.
My sister and I attended James Hill Primary School in Clarendon. I remember almost every Friday with other children being given milk powder and Bulga rice to take home. As troublesome kids we ate the milk powder before we reached home. What happened after eating the milk powder is left to your imagination. I remember being given exercise books that had the pictures of our National Heroes on the cover. As children we were very exicited to receive these books. My grandparents, Nerissa and Ronald Pinnock, did not have to worry about buying our <A class=kLink oncontextmenu="return false;" id=KonaLink3 onmouseover=adlinkMouseOver(event,this,3); style="POSITION: relative; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" onclick=adlinkMouseClick(event,this,3); onmouseout=adlinkMouseOut(event,this,3); href="http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060913/letters/letters1.html#" target=_top><SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">uniforms</SPAN></F
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>The JAMAL building on South Camp Road in Kingston. (Photo: Napthali Junior)</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>JAMAL, the movement established with great fanfare by late Prime Minister Michael Manley in the 1970s to abolish adult illiteracy, has been dissolved and replaced by the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL), marking the end of an era.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The 32-year-old Jamaican Movement for the Advancement of Literacy has given way to a more modern approach to learning in keeping with the times, and the kitchen bitch, popularly known as the tinnin' lamp, the JAMAL symbol of literacy, is now likely to be replaced by the computer keyboard.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The legal paper work to formalise the change over from JAMAL to the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning is close to completion, following Cabinet approval given sometime last year.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Dr Lascelles Lewis, who has retained the chairmanship of the new organisation, made it clear that the JAMAL Foundation's successor would not abandon the task of promoting literacy. But the move would "better serve the needs of the target group".<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=138 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>LEWIS. the JAMAL Foundation's successor will not abandon the task of promoting literacy </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>"We are not abandoning the JAMAL literacy programme, instead we are going on two tracks," confirmed Dr Lewis.
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