On the front page of this edition of The Anguillian, are the photographs of a number of local students who have excelled in the recent CSEC Examinations. Elsewhere in the newspaper are two lists of other examination results, some of them good and the rest not so good. Congratulations are however in order to all students who worked hard to gain success. Their teachers are also to be commended for their dedication and for unselfishly imparting their knowledge and skills to those they taught over the years.

Some of the students will hopefully continue their education either in Anguilla or abroad, while others will endeavour to enter the job market. In each case, there may be some difficulties. To start with, these are very strenuous financial times. They are quite different from the past two or three years, when many government-funded scholarships were awarded, and other funding was made available, to students wishing to pursue tertiary education.

This year, the economy is in shambles. Government cannot find money to pay its employees, let alone provide financial aid to students to study abroad. Even bank loans, for this purpose, may not be forthcoming. It means that parents will either have to sacrificially dig deeply into their pockets to find the required money to send their children to colleges and universities or, sadly, allow the opportunity to slip by.

In the case of those entering the job market, employment opportunities are rather scarce, as every place of work has been negatively impacted by the acute economic and financial situation. There are already many school-leavers from last year on the streets, so to speak. Those who recently graduated, and not returning to school in September, will only swell the unemployment figures.

There is an urgent need for an injection of lucrative investment in Anguilla. This must be of the type and scale that would create multiple jobs to keep our teeming youngsters gainfully employed, as well as to provide employment for all and sundry on our island. We can only hope that Anguilla’s past days of prosperity will return once more – and soon. Further, the hope is that the stability and good governance, so vital to investment and development, will permeate every fabric of our society for the good of all of us.

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