Densil Williams | Beyond literacy: Education reset for national productivity

Globally respected anthropologist and public intellectual, Don Robotham, fails to inject new life and new thinking into debates on matters of national importance to Jamaica and the wider world.

In his contribution to The Gleaner of March 17, Robotham observed that the debate about productivity has focused on the wrong issues. He opines that to address the low productivity issue, there has to be an immediate focus on the chief obstacle, which is getting more people to learn to read and write.

Put differently, Robotham calls for a reset on literacy in Jamaica. The Gleaner, editorial on March 19, followed up with a similar thought in support of Robotham’s thesis. This is an important debate that Jamaica must engage in.

MORE THAN READING AND WRITING

Reading and writing is the foundation for all learning. Indeed, Robotham is on to something when he calls for a reset on literacy and even going as far as recommending that a minister be dedicated to literacy. The recent result of the PISA 2022 examination showing that Jamaican students at age 15 in the main can barely read, write and do mathematics when compared to the rest of the world, no doubt places our economic and social progress in a precarious position.

For, despite the positive gains in the macroeconomy over the past 15 years since Golding/Shaw opened up a new paradigm in economic management and later accelerated by Portia/Phillips and is now consolidating under Holness/Clarke, Jamaica remains a low wage, low-tech and low-growth economic space. But this is unsurprising, as the level of productivity since the 1970s has been on the decline, which means that, as a society, we are producing less output with the resources we have compared to our counterparts in other parts of the world. So, the big question is: why?

Robotham and others have weighed in on this and identified low levels of literacy as the main problem. Using medical analogue, if we misdiagnose the problem, the wrong medicine might be given to the patient and, therefore, lead to the wrong outcome. So, as a starting point to get to the why, I support the thesis that basic skills in reading and writing is necessary to improve productivity. However, necessary conditions will not lead to optimal outcomes. We need to go beyond literacy.

Literacy and numeracy are foundational skills to allow persons to learn higher-order skills that are essential for higher levels of productivity necessary to move us beyond the unholy trinity of low growth, low wage and low tech trap which we have been stuck in for decades.

What is needed is to have a large mass of the population possessing higher-order skills that will make them capable of producing the higher value added outputs which will move Jamaica up the global value chain.

These skills include but are not limited to: critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, emotional intelligence, etc. These are skills that will be learned and developed as one advances along the education continuum beyond literacy. As such, the Robotham et al thesis falls short in terms of making a dent in the productivity debate. The thesis has to go further and call for a reset of the entire education continuum from pre-school to post-secondary, and also lifelong learning, if Jamaica is to see any real change in its productivity profile and move its economy of the value chain in the near future.

ACCESS REVOLUTION NEEDED IN POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION

The most significant factor that has impacted the low level of productivity and kept Jamaica wedded to the unholy trinity for so long is the lack of a critical mass of persons with post-secondary educational training.

Put differently, too many of our school leavers are stuck at the primary and secondary levels of the education continuum and cannot move forward. For, with merely three out of every 10 students who graduate secondary education moving on to post-secondary education, it means that seven students are stuck with merely literacy and numeracy skills and not able to hone and develop the higher-order skills that are needed to effectively operate in a high tech/high skills world.

A cursory look at any country over the last 50 years that have escaped the unholy trinity shows that at least seven out of every 10 students who leave secondary education move into post-secondary education.

So, for Jamaica to divorce from the unholy trinity, it must make a significant dent in the number of persons who possess post-secondary education. Jamaica needs a larger mass of our persons who can do more than just read and write but who are able to possess higher-order skills to think critically, be innovative, be accepting of diversity and inclusivity, work effectively in teams, etc., to effectively produce higher value added output and earn higher levels of income.

Simply put, Jamaica needs more persons to be able to access universities and other post-secondary educational institutions. Further, it is not merely access to institutions that matter, but it is access to high quality institutions that will make the difference.

QUALITY MATTERS

One of the foundational criteria for a high quality post-secondary academic institution is the level of knowledge creation and dissemination it is engaged in. Without high quality research which fits into global research networks and advancing the boundaries of knowledge and also, leading to solutions for problems of today and, simultaneously, shaping human capital to deal with unforeseen issues of tomorrow, post-secondary institutions at the higher levels such as universities will fail to contribute to high quality human capital development that will allow countries like Jamaica to escape the middle-income trap.

As such, it is critical that the country invests in a solid cadre of high quality universities if it is going to escape the unholy trinity which defines the middle income trap.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

The Robotham thesis has to be expanded to include a reset of the entire education continuum if Jamaica is to escape the middle income trap and ensure that macroeconomic stability works for all. It will require serious thinking around the best policies to increase access to post-secondary education, funding of high quality post-secondary institutions and ensure that these institutions maintain standards that are built to last.

Indeed, the discussion on education reset cannot ignore the funding issue. But one thing is sure, we cannot accept the troublesome recommendation in the Patterson report which argues for funding to go the route of rebalancing from tertiary to pre-school. If this recommendation is pursued, it would leave us in the exact trap we are trying to escape. We will have more persons being literate and numerate but cannot access higher-order skills to participate in the market for higher value added outputs.

A forward looking industrial policy with educational transformation at its centre is what is needed today. It should be inclusive and include actors such as the family, the private sector, the public bureaucracy, civil society and the intellectual community.

Value chain upgrading directed by a progressive industrial policy is the only way to escape the middle income trap.

- Densil A. Williams is Professor of International Business at the UWI, Mona. Email feedback to densilw@yahoo.com and columns@gleanerjm.com