Peter D. Phillips, Contributor

In this June 2007 photo, Herbert Morrison Technical High School students cheer during their graduation exercise. It is said that the education sector is suffering from a significant lack of resources. - File

As one of the third generation in what was essentially a family of teachers, I grew up with the notion that salvation, for myself, my family and the country lay in getting a good education. This creed moreover was not restricted to a few, but was generally held, and indeed was one of the linchpins of the early nationalist movement. The Jamaica Union of Teachers (JUT), formed in the early 20th Century, along with the Jamaica Agricultural Society constituted the backbone of the efforts of the Jamaican people to secure independence and a better way of life for the majority of the people.

As a consequence, many who were to become venerable stalwarts of the teaching profession like Howard Cooke, A. Wesley Powell, U.C. Wolfe, J. J. Mills, Ben Hawthorne, Reginald Murray Winston Jones, Edith Dalton James and Mary Morris Knibb, among others, were to become in various ways active in the Nationalist Movement.

In the years following Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944, as our modern two-party political system emerged and was consolidated, education policy was to assume centre stage in the nation-building project. It was also to be a continuing feature in the competitive political debates occurring between the two main political parties. Thus, in the early decades, as the partie in office, the basic strategy of Jamaica's educational development was set. The signposts are generally well known.

Free education

Common Entrance Examination was introduced in the 1950s during the premiership of Norman Manley, opening up the essentially elitist secondary school system to ordinary Jamaicans. The 70/30 system, which reserved 70 per cent of the Common Entrance places for primary school as against 'prep-school' students, was promulgated by Edwin Allen during the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration immediately following Independence.

Free education was the clarion call of the 1970s under Michael Manley as fees were abolished at secondary and tertiary levels of the system. The essential focus of all this was on increasing access to the educational system for the majority of the population who were excluded by virtue of their poverty and because of the limited number of places available particularly at the secondary school level and at the university level.

Quite obviously, on the basis of the recently concluded election campaign, the issue of education is still viewed as a potent electoral weapon. The JLP somewhat ironically promised "free education", (later reduced to "free tuition"), as a centrepiece of its electoral strategy. Views will differ as to how significant this promise was in determining the electoral fortunes of the two parties, but that is not our purpose here.

More to the point, however, is determining the relevance of this policy now being implemented to the nation building pre-occupations that were central to the pioneers of the national movement, who were also the architects of our education development strategy. Their primary role was to ensure broad access for all Jamaican children to a high quality, economically useful educational product, that would not only permit the development of the innate talents of our children, but also enable them to find a place in the job market and to function as useful committed citizens of Jamaica.

Nation-building project

How are we doing in this regard? In brief, the answer is tha important gains have been made over the years, we are not doing well enough, and as a consequence the nation-building project envisaged by the early pioneers of our country is faltering.

In 2005, some 95 per cent of the relevant age group was enrolled in primary and 87 per cent in secondary school. In other words, compared to the early post-Independence years, access, particularly to secondary and tertiary education, had been greatly expanded and was almost universal. Nevertheless, the quality of the output was sadly lacking and too many students were being left behind. According to the Report of the Task Force on Educational Reform submitted in 2004, some 30 per cent of primary school leavers were illiterate and "only about 20 per cent of secondary graduates had the requisite qualification for meaningful employment and/or entry to post-secondary programmes". That is to say 80 per cent or four of every five secondary school leavers are not qualified for today's increasingly knowledge-driven world.

With respect to examinations, even as there is an improvement in the levels of performance, and some areas of excellence, still fewer than half of students sitting the examinations attained a Grade 3 or above level in English language and only slightly more than one-third achieved the equivalent grade in mathematics in 2006. And let us not forget that these pass ratios refer only to those who were allowed to sit the examinations. Not all students, however, are even permitted to sit the examinations. In truth, the examination results nationally are even worse than the statistics above would suggest.

It goes without saying that the Jamaican economy cannot compete in today's world economy with a relatively uneducated labour force, as compared with our main trading partners and competitors. What is more, the deficiencies in our educational system which result in the emergence every year of more and more unemployable and ignorant young people is directly related to the deep social crisis in Jamaica, manifested in growing crime and disorder, persistent violence in schools, the high incidence of HIV-AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, drug abuse, etc.

Not surprisingly, the Education Transformation Team highlighted an extensive programme of Reform and refurbishing of the education sector; projected to cost $65 billion in capital expenditure over the next 10 years. The needs of the school system are obvious and glaring. Four hundred thousand school places alone would be needed in order to get rid of the shift system, and to reduce class sizes. And this does not take account of the need to provide the libraries, computer laboratories and the language laboratories that ought to go into a modern, school system.

'Give-back' of fees

One cannot avoid observing the irony in the fact that in a country that has made major impact on world culture and entertainment, through our music and our drama; few schools have any facilities to provide Jamaica's children with any formal exposure to these disciplines. In the face of these urgent demands for resources to transform our education system, the Ministry of Education is busy organising the 'give-back' of some $2 billion dollars paid by parents.

The contradictions in the situation are stark and sad. Understandably, the teachers while fulfilling the letter of the Ministry of Education's edict to repay the funds are begging parents in the name of common sense and love of school and country to leave the funds with the schools. We can all understand the politics, but the limits of populist politics should have been evident to anyone who has sincerely examined our experiences as a nation since Independence.

Review pay structures

The developmental needs of our educational system cannot be provided from the Budget alone; all stakeholders will have to play a part. Resources will have to be mobilised from parents, alumni, the private sector, the church, the Jamaican diaspora and the international community. The recent bequest by businessman Karl Hendrickson to Jamaica College and the efforts of its board chairman, Danny Williams, in putting together a trust fund for this institution point the way for the Jamaican private sector.

In addition, we need urgently to review pay structures and the system of rewards and sanctions for teachers, since all evidence internationally shows that conscientious and talented teachers are the essential ingredient of all successful educational systems. Curriculum reform and expanded teacher training offerings must also be on the agenda. So far, however, despite the urgency and complexities of the challenge facing the country's education system, all our efforts currently seem to be on the populist political agenda.

The noted American author, Saul Bellow, once remarked that "a great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep". It is about time that we shed our illusions about the nature and scope of the problem in our educational system and marshal our collective intelligence as a nation to fix the real problems.

Peter D. Phillips, Ph.D. is a former minister of government, and Vice-President of the Opposition People's National Party.

In the face of urgent demands for resources to transform our education system, the Ministry of Education is busy organizing the "give-back" of some $2 billion dollars paid by parents.