MINISTER OF EDUCATION and Human Resource Development, Ronald Jones, has pledged $5 000 of his personal funds towards next year's Schools' Industrial Arts, Craft and Technology Exhibition.

He made the announcement at the exhibition's 2008 prizegiving ceremony at Sherbourne Conference Centre, last Friday.

He said he would also commit himself to raising an additional $5 000 which would be put into the schools' industrial arts programme.

"To use your eyes, you have to use your brain . . . . To develop an idea, you have to go to the cognitive structures, you have to employ the brain. Yes academics . . . the idea first, then the planning and design and the execution to get the final product.

"You have involved more learning ability than a first-class university student. Fight for your rights," he told students from secondary and tertiary institutions.

The minister said too many young men and women "scramble for survival in our country" because they don't care about themselves.

He urged the youth to keep up the good work, and to maintain good attitudes, profiles, and be disciplined in their efforts to improve themselves.

He said the Technical, Vocational and Educational Training Council, one of the main sponsors of the exhibition, should be under his ministry and not the Ministry of Labour.

He lauded sponsors like Steve's Building Works and the Barbados Investment Development Corporation which supported the exhibition.

Acting senior education officer of secondary schools, Glyne Edwards, said the overall winner of the exhibition was Princess Margaret Secondary School.

In the community project category, which required students to find a solution to a problem in their communities, Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic placed first and third with its hydroponics system and a sound system, and Barbados Community College second with an electronic shuttle system.

The 14 participating secondary schools and institutions included St Lucy, Deighton Griffith, Industry High, St James, Harrison College, St George, Grantley Adams Memorial, Alleyne School, St Leonard's Boys', Christ Church Foundation, Barbados Community College (BCC) and The Ann Hill School.

Kyle Farnum, one of the participants in the competition, won a Barbados Scholarship and is currently enrolled at the Florida Institute of Technology. Farnum, a former BCC student, centred his exhibit on an automatic hurricane shutter system. (KB)