The day will be a time to focus on education after a year in which the pandemic took a tremendous toll on education, with in-person schooling widely curtailed for months. Against this background, the Education Day proclamation seeks to highlight the emphasis that must be placed on education for each of Jamaica’s young people.

Education and Sharing Day will bring to the forefront the importance of morality in education, a cause championed by the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory. For more than 40 years, presidents, houses of congress, and governments around the world have recognised the date corresponding to the Rebbe’s birthday on the Jewish calendar as Education and Sharing Day, honoring an individual who brought education to the forefront of public discourse.

The Rebbe emphasised the importance of paying more attention to the building of character and emphasising moral and ethical values, accentuating the values of personal rights and responsibilities and principled, just behaviour. “Education must be more than factual enlightenment, it must enrich the character as well as the mind,” said President Ronald Reagan in his 1982 proclamation for the day, echoing the Rebbe’s sentiments.

In commemoration of the anniversary, The Governor-General of Jamaica has proclaimed Sunday (April 2) as “Education Day ” in Jamaica, and called on citizens to “equip each child and adolescent with a good education. The proclamation reads:

“April 2, 2023, will mark 121 years since the Rebbe’s birth, and the date will be celebrated across Jamaica and around the globe in tribute to the Rebbe’s vision, guidance and leadership; and we can nurture the unity of diverse peoples through encouraging increased acts of goodness and kindness, imbued with awareness that even a single positive act of an individual can make a major impact in this world.

Governor-General of Jamaica do hereby proclaim Sunday, April 2, 2023, to be: Education and Sharing Day, Jamaica and call upon government officials, educators, volunteers, and citizens to reach out to those within your communities and work to create a better, brighter, and more hopeful future for all.”

Read more on Education Day at the link below:

‘Our children are our future’: Jamaica to mark Education Day on April 12

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