Prime Minister Andrew Holness, says consideration is being given for Jamaica to participate in the first cohort of countries to be measured in the World Bank Group’s Human Capital Index.
“It is absolutely important for the government to redouble its efforts, from a policy perspective and from an implementation perspective, to ensure that we do well in terms of measuring our human capital development (adequately),” he said.
To measure degree of health and education
The World Bank’s Human Capital Index, to be launched on Thursday, seeks to measure the degree of the health of children, teenagers and adults as well as the quality and quantity of education that can be received well by children until the age of 18.
Holness, emphasizing the critical need for the country to develop more of its own human capital, said that the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information will become part of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which will be important to furthering the nation’s human capital development.
A worldwide study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), PISA is intended to evaluate educational systems by measuring 15-year-old school pupils’ scholastic performance in the subjects of mathematics, science and reading.
Holness, who was addressing a conference of local Executive Management, Heads of Mission and Consular posts, spoke of the foreign policy as well as its importance to supporting economic growth.
He told the meeting of the role that the diaspora must play in Jamaica’s foreign policy development, and encouraged them to increase engagement with Jamaicans living abroad.
Holness also encouraged the diplomats to communicate with the diaspora and other stakeholders that the government is addressing the crime situation.
