Fifty-five years ago, some of us started our first days at St. Andrew Technical High School. Glad to finally be in High School via the “Over Age Scholarship”, but disappointed that we were not admitted, like many of our peers were, two years earlier, to the top Secondary Institutions – like Kingston College, St. George’s College, Wolmer’s, St. Hugh’s, Jamaica College etc. Back then, one needed “connections”, politically, socially, or otherwise just to get into a “good” high school. For most of us this was a lousy consolation prize . After about the second or third week though, students and teachers bonded to the extent that we didn’t want to be anywhere else. The STATHS Family was born.
At fifty-five, STATHS and Vere Technical are among the babies of Jamaica’s Technical High School System, both opening their doors in 1961, as co-ed institutions.
The Grand-daddy is Kingston Technical, which had its first male students enrolling in 1896, and seems to have admitted female students later that first year. It celebrated 120 years in January of 2016.
Holmwood Technical, located in Manchester, opened for boys only, in 1936, admitting girls for the first time in 1961. Dinthill Technical, in Linstead, opened in 1938 for boys only, also becoming co-ed in 1961.
STETHS – St. Elizabeth Technical High School, located in Santa Cruz, opened as a co-ed institution in 1958.
It really is unbelievable that fifty-five years went by so quickly. So here is reality:
Today, is the Tomorrow we worried about,
YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!