Higher Education Relevant to Jamaicans

¶ … Higher Education Relevant to Jamaicans

The Jamaican post-secondary education system is has struggled to reach its full potential in serving the Island's population. As a product of its British Colonial past, the country's higher education sector does not adequately reflect the cultural values and social considerations of the population it serves. Therefore, it is has remained relatively ineffective in helping Jamaicans in their struggle to become more educated and eligible for higher paying, skilled professions. Though the current operation of the higher education system has been strained under the weight of limited resources, supplies, and access to technologies, the heart of the inefficiencies lie in the sector not being relevant to the culture it serves.

Cultural relevance is a concept that is often well understood but not often well practiced. The roots of cultural relevance lie in an understanding of the people whose society and culture is being served. This means that the traditional British Colonial system and customs are not applicable to the vast majority of Jamaicans today. In order to restructure the country's higher education sector, the universities, community colleges, and other educational institutions need to heed the cultural calls of Jamaicans themselves. This means that from the foundational level, these educational facilities should be rebuilt and restructured to include Jamaican voices, perspectives, and cultural norms that the island's population is familiar with. This restructuring would go a long way to improve the attitudes and perceptions of locals relative to the adequacy and relevance of the higher education sector in Jamaica.

Effective teachers understand that in order for a student to be motivated to learn, they need to feel that the work they are doing in their own education is worthwhile and relevant. This is one of the most basic concepts in education, and it needs to be adhered to within the higher education sectors of Jamaica.

Government spending on education is also a major concern relative to the health of the higher education sector of Jamaica. During the 1980's the HEART (Human Employment and Resource Training Program) aimed at providing training and employment for unemployed youths finished with school. However, after half a decade of hard work, the program came under fire from politicians and citizens eager to find ways of cutting government spending. The project eventually fell by the wayside and the current status of higher education in Jamaica has certainly suffered. Calling for a renewed sense of importance in the belief that government funding can make a difference is only part of the battle. The politicians and citizens associated with such funding need to feel as though they themselves are benefiting from a culturally relevant human resources development through education. Again, this starts at the grass roots level in helping to rebuild the higher education facilities in order to reflect uniquely Jamaican values, norms, and cultural considerations.