Life-long Learning for All

“Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.”
James A. Garfield

The UPP sees life-long learning for all as the critical path to a successful future in the knowledge-driven twenty-first century. Among the elements of the UPP’s agenda for life-long learning are:

• Early Childhood Education Centres, to be funded by the Caribbean Development Bank
• A nationwide network of preschool/childcare facilities such as the one recently established at the Simon Bolivar Park
• Modern high schools equipped to teach both academic and technical/vocational subjects
• The promotion and inculcation of the values, traditions and practices associated with Antigua and Barbuda norms and ways of life in the classroom, in order to ensure that the educational system produces good citizens and not just students who have been trained to sit exams
• CXC-based CVQ Examinations which will assess the competencies of our tradesmen and make them more competitive nationally and regionally
• The National Training Agency which will be an incubator for developing professionals and skilled persons
• Additional tertiary scholarships geared towards further augmentation of the growing cadre of young, bi- and multilingual professionals
• Expansion of the recently established Student Loan facility through the Antigua and Barbuda Development Bank, which will offer access to education loans at attractive rates
• A fully functional public library
• A University of Antigua & Barbuda operating in collaboration with the University of the West Indies; with existing tertiary-level institutions providing the initial platform
• Unfettered, free access to the Internet

Even as we invest in the education of the nation’s human resources, the UPP will pursue the creation of knowledge-based employment opportunities. This pursuit will build on the past success evidenced by the creation of the Medical Transcription Industry.