“Math helps in every area of your life; therefore if you want to stay away from learning Math, you are staying away from life.”
That was the thesis of the message imparted to two groups of students yesterday, by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell.
The Prime Minister was on a visit to Happy Hill Secondary School and the Florida Government School, kicking off the Ministry of Education’s “Math Month” initiative, geared towards promoting students’ interest in Mathematics.
In addressing the students, the Prime Minister said, that Math can influence any profession, because in any area of problem solving in life, the steps are the similar: understand the problem, get the facts, analyze the problem, and then solve.
Intrinsic to the advice on learning Math, was the Prime Minister’s expression of his desire to get our students technologically savvy, and to implement the use of tablets in classrooms across the country. By so doing, and with the training of our teachers in those areas, the Prime Minister explained, how learning Math could “come alive” for our students, and become much more fun.
The Prime Minister, holding Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Mathematics and Statistics, imparted some of his experiences as a student of Math, and later as a teacher and Professor at every level of education: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary.
Indeed, the Prime Minister is coming full circle. He lectured last month at the University of the West Indies CaveHill Campus in Barbados, on the use of Science and Technology to develop the Caribbean. Yesterday, he presented at the Primary and Secondary school levels, and later this month, his Math and Science presentations are expected to culminate with a lecture at the T.A. Marryshow Community College.
On the school visits on Wednesday, the Prime Minister was accompanied by Senator Winston Garraway, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Information; Press Secretary, Kisha Alexander Grant; and officials from the Ministry of Education.
Government Information Service
