His Excellency the President Bharat Jagdeo
Hon Minister of Education, Dr Henry Jeffrey
Senior Government and other Officials
Distinguished Guests
Principals and Teachers,
Students, and, most importantly, the students we are recognizing and awarding today for your high achievements:

It is indeed my pleasure to be able to address this audience of young brilliant minds and well-wishers this afternoon.  First, I congratulate you, the students who have registered such outstanding performances at your examinations and I commend the Ministry of Education for providing this opportunity to publicly applaud you.  I also congratulate your teachers, who by their own hard work and commitment have successfully guided you to such noteworthy achievement.  Congratulations are in order also, to those schools being recognized today as the most improved Junior and Senior Secondary schools.  I salute you all.

Today, we gather to celebrate with you, to declare our collective pride in you and to share your joy in a job well done.  This sense of pride is coloured with more than a little hope as we recognize you as part of the generation that will lead us in the not too distant future.  You, by virtue of the keen intellect and academic capacity that you have demonstrated, have identified yourselves as members of the cadre of persons from whom tomorrow’s leaders will come.   It is to you that the mantle will pass.

Today, as you are immersed in feelings of contentment and satisfaction at your outstanding achievements, I ask that each of you think of the great responsibility and hard work that lie ahead - for your job is not done.  It has only just begun. The choices you make today will determine your role in shaping the development of Guyana and the wider Caribbean Region.

Since the next generation of leaders of our society is likely to be among you, I want to share with you, a vision of the future of our Caribbean region - a vision forged by our first generation of Caribbean-born leaders who struggled with the idea of West Indian federation but lost.  This vision was revived and nurtured by the second generation of Caribbean leaders who built the Caribbean Community and Common Market.  This vision is now being taken to new heights as current leaders, led by his Excellency the President of Guyana who is the current Chairman, guide the Community in the creation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).  It is a vision of a strong Caribbean, sure of itself, united in pursuit of social and economic development, in its recognition of the dignity of every human being, and in its respect for justice and equality through individual empowerment and social transformation

The Single Market and Economy (CSME) was conceived as an instrument to facilitate economic development of CARICOM States in an increasingly liberalised and globalised international environment.  The CSME when fully established, will be fundamentally different from the Common Market arrangements.  While the Common Market focuses on trade in goods, the CSME also provides for free movement of services, labour and capital and the right to establish businesses anywhere in the Community.

The CSME will therefore allow those of you who become entrepreneurs to trade freely without hindrance, to establish and service your markets and your clients in all other Member States, to attract capital or invest/utilise funds within any and all Member States, and to hire staff from or work in any other CARICOM State.  These options enhance the potential to produce globally competitive goods and services.  The CSME is intended as the means by which the Region is organising itself for efficient and competitive production and trade in a globalised world – a world in which many of the barriers we are removing among ourselves will eventually be removed with other countries through the international trade agreements which are being negotiated even as we speak.

This, then, is the challenge that awaits you: the challenge to be involved in the process of making your country and our region viable and prosperous, thereby creating a better place for your generation and the generations to come.  You are the future and you must be adamant that your future is here.  There can be no place where you can make a greater impact or gain greater recognition than in the region of your birth.  There are none more entitled than you to benefit from the opportunities being created by the Single Market and Economy and the potential for creation of wealth in Guyana and the rest of the Community.  There are none better qualified than you to give enduring meaning to this vision of a strong Caribbean, sure of itself, united in pursuit of social and economic development, in its recognition of the dignity of every human being, and in its respect for justice and equality through individual empowerment and social transformation

As you plan your future, I want to share a few thoughts with you on matters that I believe are of critical importance to your development and, by extension, to the success of this Region, in facing the challenges of development.

The first is reflected in the theme for today’s festivities – Learn to Read and Read to Learn.  I cannot over-emphasize how important it is to read. Read everything and anything.  Read the works of our varied Caribbean writers as well as the writers of the world.  Read carefully and critically.  Read and analyse.  Read to learn of other places and peoples.  Read to understand that there is a common humanity which binds us all to this universe.  If you do not read, you do not know.

The three Rs, as we call them: reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic, were basic to the British education system which was passed on through all the colonies including those in the Caribbean.  The importance of reading and being able to read was dramatised in another era when, to be caught reading was a crime punishable by death in almost all of Europe, as it was felt by the powers that be that information was the means of control.

I grew up before we had the instant gratification of television as our constant companion and main source of entertainment.  My generation could not “watch” our stories, we could not “veg out” in front of “the tube” and have information from TV sets enter our brain as if by osmosis.  We had to read our stories.  Or sometimes we could listen to our stories on the radio.  Reading is an active - even interactive - process.  It allows us to think and act for ourselves.  TV is a passive process which usually only expects us to react.

The information you can get from books, magazines, newspapers, the internet and even comic books, to name a few sources, is undoubtedly of critical importance to your development as students and as well-rounded persons.  When put together with your school books, they comprise a significant body of knowledge which you will always be able to draw upon either from memory or through reference. It is a truism that those who read more, are better able to cope with the demands of life, for in their reading, they are able to benefit from the experience of others.  Reading will help you make good career choices.  Reading will help you make good life choices.

There is no better way to improve your vocabulary and speaking skills and to develop your writing skills than through reading.  Those of you who wish to be creative writers, and all of us who wish to be able simply to put across our point of view in a clear, concise manner, will appreciate having a breadth of word power at our disposal.

But it is not only as a source of information that we should look at reading. It is and has always been a source of pleasure and inspiration.  The joy that you get from a good book, or the hope from a special passage that touches you, can be easily at hand in a car, on a plane or on a mini-bus, music permitting, in a way that your favourite movie or television show cannot be readily available.  Indeed I advise you to read an hour every day just for the fun of it.  It will be time well spent.

The second matter that I believe to be of critical importance if you and this Region are to succeed and flourish in the new global economy has to do with technology.  Technology is no longer only a specialized area of study, it underlies everything we do – from planting crops, to manufacturing, to health services, to education techniques.  Every aspect of our lives is being affected by new and improved technologies.

Technology, especially Information Technology, continues to change and advance at a rapid rate and has become an integral part of everything that we do.  The developed countries are well ahead of us in technological development, innovation and use.  If we are to capably function in the new global economy, it is imperative that our people become skilled in the use and adaptation of the new technologies.  If we cannot do this, our ability to take advantage of the vast potential of the information age will be constrained and so too will be our drive to unify this region.

As you seek to develop your interests, decide on your careers, determine what you want to study in the future, I encourage you to read and learn everything you can about the importance of technology in your lives.  Become comfortable with computers as early and as best you can.  In my day, we saw the transition from basic calculators to those that do algebra, calculus and trigonometry.  Not long before I entered high school, the slide rule had given way to the calculator.  How many of you have ever seen a slide rule?  Some of you may not have even heard of it.  The point is that the technology of learning, of working and of living is changing constantly.  We have to appreciate that and make sure that we become a part of the change, or we will be left behind in this new world of many challenges.

The third matter of critical importance to you and the future of the Caribbean at this juncture is HIV/AIDS.  This is a very serious health issue with major implications for our efforts to develop our countries.  After Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean region has the highest infection rate of HIV/AIDS. A significant number of persons infected are in the 15-24 age group.   As young people who have demonstrated leadership potential and who will be looked upon as role models, you are in a solid position to help sensitise and educate your peers about the deleterious effect of this disease on us as individuals, on our families and on our societies. You need to arm yourself with the best available information on how to avoid infection and to share that information with your peers.  Our people, most particularly our young people, you, are our most valuable resource and are at greatest risk from this threat.  And because you are our future, this is a threat to the survival of our region.

The final thought I want to share with you concerns the concept of education.  It used to be that education ended with the earning of the certificate at whatever level we chose to end the process – whether at primary or secondary school or at university.  This is no longer the case.  In today’s world, because  knowledge itself is being created so rapidly and technology is changing constantly, education and training should be seen as a lifelong process. 

Almost ten years ago, in 1993, when the CARICOM Regional Education Policy was endorsed by Ministers of Education, they noted that for the Caribbean Community to survive and its people live meaningful lives in the twenty-first century, education must be necessary, appropriate and informed by an understanding of the important place of adult education in shaping the future of CARICOM.

The Charter of Civil Society for the Caribbean Community agreed in1997, commits Member States to ensuring that “...every child has the right to, and is provided with, quality primary education,” and that there is “...equal access to secondary and post secondary education and reasonable access to continuing adult education and training”.

This is especially pertinent because, as many of us realise, for most people, the word "education" suggests only children in school - an understandable interpretation, but an incomplete one.  For, while children may be the primary target group for education, as you go through life you will come to appreciate that as adults, you will continue to have learning needs.

Across the globe there have been significant gains in the provision of basic education and statistics show much improvement in the levels of literacy among adult population in the world.  But the patterns in the industrialized and the developing countries are sharply different.  Work done by UNESCO shows that 80 per cent of the world’s illiterate population are to be found in developing countries; that 23 per cent of adults today are unable to read, write or do simple arithmetical calculations; and that many more lack the basic knowledge and skills they need to be responsible parents, efficient workers and active citizens.

In an audience such as this, many of you already know that adult literacy rates for the English-speaking Caribbean paint a more optimistic picture.  But there is no room for complacency.  Especially when we consider that studies also show that an explosion of organised adult learning is now under way in industrialised countries.  This is because adult education is not only about literacy and numeracy.  It is also about keeping up with new developments in various fields.  It is about learning new skills to improve productivity in the workplace.  It is about recognizing that learning never ends.  It is a lifelong process of developing our innate talents.  One that I hope you will grasp and hold onto - for your future, our future, depends on it.

I want to again congratulate you, the students, for the work you have done which has culminated in your being here today.  You can be justifiably proud of your achievements, which could not have been accomplished without hard work, dedication and commitment.  You are on a long journey that will lead to even greater self-confidence and self-reliance, and the ability to grasp the opportunities that the national, regional and global environments present.

I want to leave you with a story that I will encourage you to find on your own and read and consider.

In 1993, an African American woman, Toni Morrison, won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and in her acceptance speech, referred to this story that has been told in various forms in various cultures.  This is a story of an old woman, blind, but very wise.

In this version, the woman is Caribbean, and lives deep in the darkness and dampness of the rainforest.  Her reputation for wisdom is legendary and without question.  Among her people she is revered and respected. Others come from the furthest corners of the Caribbean, braving the dangers lurking in the forest, to pay homage to her.  She is wisdom personified.  But some, filled with the arrogance and skepticism that is sometimes the companion of youth, dismiss her as a rural prophet whose ways are the source of much amusement.

“One day the woman is visited by some young people who seem to be bent on disproving her wisdom and showing her up for the fraud they believe she is. Their plan is simple: they enter her house and ask the one question, the answer to which rides solely on her difference from them, a difference they regard as a profound disability: her blindness. They stand before her, and one of them says, "Old woman, I hold in my hand a bird. Tell me whether it is living or dead.”

She does not answer, and the question is repeated. "Is the bird I am holding living or dead?".

Still she doesn't answer. She is blind and cannot see her visitors, let alone what is in their hands. She does not know their color, their gender or their homeland.  She only knows their motive.

The old woman's silence is so long, the young people have trouble holding their laughter.  Finally she speaks and her voice is soft but stern. "I don't know", she says. "I don't know whether the bird you are holding is dead or alive, but what I do know is that it is in your hands.  It is in your hands."

I tell this story to tell you of the power that you will hold in your hands as the stewards of our Region in the future.  The future of this country and this entire Region is soon to be in your hands and those of your peers.  Make it a success.  Then, like the old woman at the end of the story, we can say with pride and confidence: “Look.  How lovely it is, this thing we have done - together."

I thank you.

*****