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Stabroek News

Failing education
published: Wednesday | June 13, 2007


Peter Espeut

Spot quiz: name the profession where, of the roughly 260 working days in the year, you are only required to work for about 190, which means that you have about 70 days vacation (about two and a half months) per year? And on top of that, out of the 190 working days, you can still take 14 days sick leave and 12 days casual 1eave? And you can become entitled to study leave and more vacation leave? You all should have guessed it: the teaching profession. And before you say I am here attacking teachers, let me make it clear that it is not the teachers who have decided this, but various PNP and JLP governments since Independence. This is official government education policy!

Robert Gregory gave us some comparative data last Thursday: countries like Austria, Japan and Switzerland have 220-225 days of school per year, eight hours per day. We have six-and-a-half-hour days in our schools, except in two-shift schools which have four-and-a-half-hour-days. Jamaican children get about 13 per cent less school days than children from these countries, and 19 per cent less hours in the day; overall, Jamaican children get 30 per cent less contact school hours than Austrian, Japanese and Swiss children. But if they are in a two-shift school, they will get 52 per cent less contact hours - less than half!

Jamaicans left far behind

And our children also spend fewer years in school. With globa-lisation, the average Jamaican child is left far behind.

Monday's Gleaner reported on the front page that the Ministry of Education is thinking of adding five more days to the school year. Definitely a step in the right direction! After implementation, Jamaican children will get 28 per cent less contact hours in school than Austrian, Japanese and Swiss children. But if they are in a two-shift school, they will get 51 per cent less contact hours, still less than half! Our children are being grossly short-changed!

How are we doing with our present education system? Can I invite you to go to the Ministry of Education's website and to check out the targets the Government has set for itself in its 2000 education green paper with the admirable slogan: "Every child can learn; every child must". The URL is http://www.moec.gov.jm/policies/greenpaper.htm.

What do you make of this target in the green paper: "Fifty-five per cent of all students who were enrolled in Primary grade one in September 1997 to demonstrate full mastery in literacy at the grade six level in August 2002." In 2002, after 38 years of Independence, the Government of Jamaica is aiming at just a little more than half of grade six primary school children being able to read! If this is the target, can you imagine what the reality was in 2000? Only about 40 per cent of primary school graduates could read!

Let us not blame British colonialism alone; they had their reasons for not wanting Jamaicans to read. We have to admit that since Independence in 1962, since we have been paddling our own canoe, four JLP governments and six PNP governments added together have not been able to organise an education system that can teach even half of Jamaican primary school graduates to read! Both the PNP and JLP have dismally failed the country!

Let us compare ourselves with our Caribbean neighbours who have had a similar history of slavery and colonialism: Barbados has 98 per cent literacy; Trinidad has 97 per cent literacy. What is wrong with us?

Surely our education system is in crisis, requiring drastic action! Whereas I agree that five more days of school is a step in the right direction, it is only one very small step when several big steps are required. Why not 20 more days of school per year? Why not increase the number of hours of school per day to eight? We have a lot of catching up to do! More next week.


Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development NGO.

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