Ronald Thwaites | Good things

Have you noticed the increased and sustained public concern about correcting the fundamental flaws in our education system? It seems that the frightening PEP and CSEC results have awakened many of us who previously have accepted the pabulum of contrived rosy statistics or just normalised the underachievement of most of our students. The heightened consciousness is the start of something good.

RESISTANCE

The editorials of this newspaper have led the way recently. Several interest groups, the private sector and conscious individuals have joined the crusade to eradicate illiteracy, innumeracy and negative socialization among our school leavers. The reaction of the teachers’ union and the Ministry has been slow or defensive.

There is resistance to expanded contact hours and reduced leave entitlement. There is no additional money to compensate for benefits which will have to be foregone. Both the capital and recurrent budgets for education are flat up to 2028 according to official government projections. Just look at the big yellow book. Accountability is not anyone’s best suit. Buck-passing and public relations are.

Neither political party, going into election year, has captivated the nation’s conscience (for those who acknowledge the existence of such a spiritual capacity!) or self-interest, with a plan and the wherewithal to curb the cancer of under-achievement. And cancer it is. Failure in school leads to menial job prospects, low productivity and for all too many, anti-social behaviour.

FEARFUL TO CONFRONT?

Which of us politicians is telling the nation that there will be no “five in four” growth, no “sleeping with windows and doors open”, no more than cosmetic “Brand Jamaica image” until we finally discard the apartheid model of education and hold ourselves responsible for creating the world-class-qualified, highly productive workforce which has propelled Finland, South Korea and Singapore to thrive and an embattled Cuba to survive.

I dare anyone to credibly argue otherwise. Yet we continue to dilly-dally around the solution- celebrating the exceptions to the general malaise while dressing up the failures in the pretence of cap and gown as we send them forth. There is no more convincing proof of this wilful self-delusion than the failure of government even to table the Patterson Report in Parliament or for them or the Opposition to foment national discussion on its contents. What could be of greater human and political significance?

NEW WINE?

The new minister offers fresh hope because she was deeply involved in the comprehensive Patterson-led survey of the education system. Mrs. Williams is to be appreciated and thanked for the industry which she brought to the Ministry in the most difficult of times. She was reticent in reaching out for help across the political divide. To her credit, Dr. Morris Dixon has signalled in her first week her understanding that reform requires not a “trend” but a whole-of-society crusade.

The transformation required cannot be carried out by either of our political administrations alone. For one, without continuity across election cycles, even the best-intentioned changes will miscarry. Also, the vested interests with big social and political clout will frustrate any reform which is put forward without national consensus.

WHEEL AND COME AGAIN

The imperative is therefore to craft a broad agreement about the strategy, shared responsibilities, measured targets, accountability, incentives and sanctions, to bring about a renewed campaign for literacy and numeracy.

I remember when we began in 1974 for “the first time at last”. Then, the likes of Michael Manley, Mavis Gilmour, Danny Williams, Joyce Robinson, Dudley Grant. Marjorie Kirlew, Lascelles Beckford and Franklin Johnston assumed that illiteracy was an adult problem and that the schools were taking care of these skills for the youths. That presumption has proved dramatically wrong.

The new ‘Jamal’- like thrust must engage all schools, as well as in the seriously lapsed-literate workforce. Anything less is a self-inflicted haemorrhage which will only aggravate the anaemia of our time.

THE WAY FORWARD

All persons of goodwill must give the new minister the ‘backitive’ to resist watering down or postponing the main recommendations of the Patterson Report to which she is a signatory. For a start, automatic promotion must stop now.

A good move is the return of the HEART/ NSTA Trust to the education portfolio, which really should be renamed “Education and Training”. Except to control its money and, consequently, fail to integrate vocational skills sufficiently into the school system, why was HEART ever placed under prime ministerial control anyway? The way forward must be to require that no student leave secondary school without Level 2 certification in some skill and that that as many employers as possible be given back their contributions to stimulate widespread apprenticeship with HEART serving as a certifying rather than an executing authority.

SHARING THE COST

Two last things for now. Once parents are convinced that their children’s schooling has quality and will assure opportunity, they will do their utmost to partner financially with school and state. Let us encourage Dr. Morris Dixon to resile gracefully from the “free education” charade which has starved the already marasmic, resource-weak sector since 2016.

Nothing of value is free. Equally, nothing of such inestimable value must be denied to those who genuinely cannot pay. These principles need not be in conflict. (See Acts Ch 4 v 32-35 )

Also, the administration of which she is a part, ought to honor the yearning of Hon.Edward Seaga for meaningful state sponsorship of early childhood education; the concentration of the basic and infant school syllabus exclusively on instilling the humane virtues of the 2030 Vision; and the upskilling and just remuneration of pre-primary teachers.

AN EVEN BIGGER QUESTION

By now you know my conviction that effective education is the cornerstone of all flourishing. In coming weeks, I hope to suggest ways we can advance this cause within our existing means. But there is a deeper discourse to be had especially at a time when electoral choice demands evaluation of public policy. The new minister of Finance has been encouraged by several business leaders to chart rapid economic growth. Indeed that was Norman Manley’s challenge from 1969. I do not think it is achievable if we continue as we are.

Can the structures of our social order and political economy be conducive to rapid, sustained and inclusive growth? Are we brave and truthful enough to confront that question?

Rev Ronald G. Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. He is former member of parliament for Kingston Central and was the minister of education. He is the principal of St Michael’s College at The UWI. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com