The following statement has been endorsed by Dr Ryan Allard, John Arnold, Shaun Biggart-Hutchinson, Laureen Burris-Phillip, Winston Dillon, Reginald Dumas, Dr Ralph Henry, Dr Vanus James, Dr Winford James, Raphael Jones, Kenneth Lewis, Prof Theodore Lewis, Dr Godfrey Martin, Prof James Millette, Joann Neaves, Aiyegoro Ome, Mervyn OâNeil, Reginald Phillips, Rodney Piggott, Zena Ramatali, Anselm Richards, Latoyaa Roberts, Gladstone Solomon and Maureen Taylor-Ryan. Ever since investment in human capital became accepted as a critical way to think about education, countries across the globe have understood that schools serve not just a social function, but an economic one. The Asian countries were the first to understand the new thinking and were the first to demonstrate that investment in education was central to moving from under-developed status to developed. Singapore and South Korea are outstanding examples of this philosophy.