Edward Seaga

When the programme to transform the education system was published, I noted that it was so cluttered with problems to be dealt with that it would be very difficult to achieve or to show movement in finding solutions. Specific major problems should be the focus, one or two at a time, so that results could be assessed.

Minister of Education Andrew Holness has made a good start with a bold plan to curb illiteracy, one of the principal problems - if not the principal one. Starting with illiteracy at the primary school level is convenient because Grade 4 testing is already available to show results.

The proposal is that each child in primary school will be required to pass the Grade 4 literacy and numeracy tests before being allowed to sit the Grade 6 Achievement Test (GSAT). Students would have three chances to do so, in grades 4, 5 and 6. Failure in all three would prevent those students from entering secondary schools. They would remain in primary school to receive further teaching to improve their academic level in order to try again. This is a good arrangement for several reasons:

It would change the attitude of students and parents who would work harder to avoid the students from being unsuccessful and labelled as 'dunce bats'.

Instead of the approach of teachers not to worry too much about the 'dunce bats' in the present system because they would soon graduate to secondary schools and cease to be their problem, retention of the failures would provide a numerical mark of how well or badly the school was doing. Teachers would work harder to avoid their schools being categorised as 'dunce bat' schools, if the failures were excessive.

The motivation to avoid stigmatisation would be the dynamic that the educational system would need for all stakeholders to try harder for better results. This proposal would quickly identify how bad the problem is and what success is being achieved annually, providing a ready assessment for the school authorities, parents and the public.

Academically weak

Holness ... has made a good start. - File

The next step should be applied at the secondary school level. I have long advocated that an extra hour should be set aside after school to do homework. This would greatly benefit those students who do not have proper facilities at home, or live so far that they do not have time after reaching home to settle down, or who are academically weak. The extra-time classes would be supervised by teachers who would receive a stipend simply to monitor the class to ensure that the homework was done, not to provide assistance, as this would be a greater scope of work which would be impossible to implement.

If the homework problem is conquered, the results in the GCE school-leaving exam would definitely show improved results, which could even be very surprising. Not all schools, nor all students, would require this facility to assist them.

A further proposal which I have repeatedly made for secondary education is to extend the school-leaving period age to 18 years for all students, instead of the present arrangement where the school-leaving GCE exam is taken at age 15 or 16, graduating some students into the world of work at far too young an age. The extra years available under an extended programme for those who would not be going on to tertiary education could be used to provide skill training, or to repeat subjects failed in the GCE exam to improve their qualification for tertiary training. Either course would be to their benefit. The problem would be extra space and more staff. One positive spin-off would be a reduction of unemployment, statistically, since thousands of students would still be in school and not classified as unemployed.

Stumbling block

At the tertiary level, a major stumbling block is financing the cost of education. When I established the Students Loan Revolving Fund for Higher Education (Now Students' Loan Bureau - SLB) in 1970, it was to overcome this problem. However, many more students are now qualifying for tertiary education than before, putting a strain on the SLB. This can be tackled by seeking a further tranche of funding from the Inter-American Development Bank, which provided the original financing, or the Caribbean Development Bank. If successful, the lower-cost funds could be blended with the higher-cost SLB funds to reduce overall cost.

The present SLB interest rate of 12 per cent add-on and only a six-month moratorium for the start of repayment are too onerous for graduates, hence, defaults. Tertiary education financing should be treated like mortgage financing in which graduates could be offered the purchase of real estate (house or lot for building) by the National Housing Trust (NHT). The NHT debt would be pooled with the student loan debt and repayment would be made for both jointly on the much easier NHT long-term, low-interest terms. In this arrangement, the student loan would be repaid first. The real estate would be held as collateral.

Another way to treat the financing of tertiary education is for government to pay for the education of students in law, medicine and other faculties which produce graduates in skills which are in short supply in the public sector. These graduates would be bonded to work in public sector posts for agreed periods of time.

One other feature would have to be introduced to round out an overall programme of balanced results. This would be the introduction of a curriculum programme on character education and life skills. I have written on this need on several occasions and will continue to press the urgent need as an essential component of the education system.

Focusing on a minimal number of major problems which can unlock maximum benefits is the best way to achieve transparent and accountable results in education, which the public urgently require to restore credibility in the system.

Minister Holness and his team have made a start and if he continues in that direction to overcome the fundamental problems, he could be classified with Ivan Lloyd, who introduced the Common Entrance Exam; Edwin Allen, who provided 70 per cent of secondary school places for primary school students and built 60 new secondary schools through World Bank financing; and Mavis Gilmour, in whose term of office the ROSE programme was agreed and textbooks provided for all students in primary schools. These have been the principal enduring landmark achievements of the reform of the education system.

Edward Seaga is a former prime minister. He is now a Distinguished Fellow at the UWI. Email: odf@uwimona.edu.jm