Jones: No place for self-doubt

Education is one of the key sectors that would help the Caribbean to progress.

This is according to Barbados’ Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation in Barbados, Ronald Jones, who delivered Welcome Remarks at the 13th Annual International Conference of the Association of Caribbean Higher Education Administrators (ACHEA) recently in the Roy Marshall Teaching Complex at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus.

He said that in order to completely capitalise on this sector, administrators in education must not be afraid to push forward in promoting their ideas.

“We should not be into self-doubt as we confront the challenges as they impact on education. But what it is saying to us it that we have to work harder, we have to think more, we have to collaboratively pull everything together to see how we can traverse these difficult arenas that we face at this time.”

The Minister of Education stated that this can be most effectively achieved when educators have confidence in their own skills, knowledge and talents.

“While we are blazing trails, we are still holding back, because some of us still doubt ourselves. I want the administrators in higher education not to have doubt, not to have fear. Plunge into the ocean; you will not drown – there are lifeguards still there, but at least you will be learning to swim or at least paddle. But if you stand looking at the waters, the only thing that you can do is dip some of it and drink. But that is not all that you want – you want to swim, to move from spot A to spot B, to jump in; grow together.”

Accordingly, he urged all of the administrators of the tertiary level institutions across the region to take the theme of their conference to heart as they came up with solutions during the conference.

“Over the next three or four days, pour your minds into whatever you have to do, ‘Creating a Sustainable Lens for Higher Education: The New Urgency’ as capacity has not yet been met, and there is scarcity on the outside. What do we do to make it work and to make it effective?” (PJT)