Kangaloo hails UWI Roytec's role in education, social change

PRESIDENT Christine Kangaloo on Friday saluted the nation's teachers as drivers of social change, as she addressed the UWI Roytec graduation ceremony.

She said her mother, father-in-law (former education minister Anthony Garcia) and her aunts had been teachers.

Kangaloo said, "Having known and lived with them, I can say here this evening without the slightest fear of contradiction that it is our educators who drive the most important and positive changes in society," prompting applause from the audience.

"Your bachelor of education programme for primary school teachers is said on your website to develop teachers who are reflective practitioners, who practise an inclusive approach to teaching that recognises the diversity of children in the classroom.

"So what your bachelor of education programme for primary school teachers does is to train teachers how to recognise the different talents of our primary school children and I am sure how to teach our primary school children to put their different talents to use in service of the whole."

Kangaloo endorsed the graduation theme – Unity does not mean sameness; It means oneness of purpose.

She said the bachelor of education taught teachers to encourage pupils to put their diversity to use for the good of the whole and so was a very embodiment of the theme, unity does not mean sameness.

"It also seems to me that since our schoolchildren are being taught by graduates of UWI-Roytec about the value of their differences and how to synthesise them to produce a blend that holds us together in the pursuit of a common purpose, then we all have cause to be tremendously hopeful about the future of our country."

Kangaloo was also excited about UWI-Roytec's courses that can build up a cadre of business progressions leading to policy making.

"I think we can all agree that changed behaviours are badly needed in many areas of national life.

"What the research is suggesting is that both behavioural change and policy change are required to achieve large-scale social change and that they need to happen together.

"The research suggests that social change occurs when behaviours and institutions are interdependent and that although neither can get the job done on its own, policy change is particularly critical. "

Recalling this year's Divali Nagar theme of respect for Mother Earth, she urged the recycling of organic waste from households to form compost, something UWI Roytec's programmes could encourage.

"In the case of our country's future and existing business leaders, your programmes educate them on how to pull together the different elements of policy change and behavioural change in order to serve the common good of the whole."