Transform education for economic growth, says VM CEO Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

President and CEO of Victoria Mutual (VM) Group, Courtney Campbell, says the transformation of Jamaica’s education system is crucial to the country achieving economic growth.

Campbell made the remark on Monday’s opening day of the Jamaica Theological Seminary’s (JTS) Leadership Conference 2022.

He noted that the diffusion of knowledge and information has been at the foundation of all successful national transformations. And, he pointed to examples of successful countries that transformed themselves, including the so-called Asian Tigers – Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines and the dragons – South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Campbell said these countries are rapidly converging toward the standard of advanced nations, while the least advanced African countries such as Central African Republic, Congo, Niger, Gambia and Caribbean nations such as Haiti and Jamaica and some Latin American countries such as Venezuela have stagnated or experienced sluggish growth. He referenced a study that looked at GDP per capita growth for 84 developing countries from 1961-1917.

Campbell said Jamaica must develop a vision for a more inclusive and equitable education system. He quoted Nelson Mandela who said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

The VM head pointed out that before COVID-19, Jamaica’s economy suffered from low rates of productivity and high income inequality.

He pointed to the Jamaica Productivity Centre which has highlighted that Jamaica has the lowest labour productivity when compared to other Caribbean countries such as Barbados, the Dominican Republic, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

“One reason for low productivity is the low availability of some of the skills required to be globally competitive in this era. We have to transform the content of our training,” said Campbell.

He posited that COVID-19 has accelerated technology adoption in all sectors, so these talent-related challenges have become even more pronounced.

“If your company or country cannot claim a ready pool of these digital skills, you will be left behind. The income inequality has been exacerbated by permanent and temporary losses of employment and income,” Campbell said.

“To address these issues, we will have to help our people identify and transition to new labour market opportunities supported by revised labour market policies. We must also invest in reskilling and upskilling programmes,” he added.

Campbell pointed out that VM is doing its part and in 2018, the group devised what he called an ambitious digital transformation programme.

“The main goal of this programme is to move from ‘doing digital’ to ‘being digital’ by infusing digital technologies into all of VM’s key business processes,” Campbell shared. He cautioned that in order to do this well, “we have had to ensure that our people develop critical digital skills that allow them to thrive, not only in a digital workspace but also in the new digital world.

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