THE EDITOR, Madam:
IF THE Ministry of Education and Culture is to remain true to its mission statement "To provide a system which secures quality education for all persons in Jamaica and achieve effective integration of educational and cultural resources in order to optimise individual and national development", a bold initiative will have to be taken this year starting with budgetary allocation and plans by both Ministers of Finance and Education in their budget speeches.
The Leader of Opposition, Mr. Edward Seaga, in his presentation to the budget debate last year, proposed the float of a tax-free, long-term education bond, attractive to pension funds. This was indeed a revolutionary approach to financing education if adopted. However, what became of this proposal that was reportedly under study by the government God alone knows.
Notwithstanding, the government must wake-up and face the reality that the eradication of illiteracy must be the way forward as we moved into the 21st century. For one thing the per cent of people leaving the formal education system functionally illiterate is still high at an estimate of 30-40 per cent. This of course is linked to a rapidly increasing youth population and an expanding level of unemployment. The implication of this is far too serious to even contemplate. Suffice it to say that no country in the modern world can achieve economic development with a labour force lacking in basic skills of literacy and numeracy.
We have witnessed billions spent on bail-out for the financial sector, agriculture and transportation and billions budgeted to be spent on Highway 2000. It is now time for all stakeholders in education to stand-up and and be counted by demanding a greater investment in education by the government.
The Seaga proposal which included the following is worthy of revisiting and serious consideration:
Doubling enrolment in tertiary institutions.
Eradicating of illiteracy.
Similar levels of financing for rich and poor schools.
Provision of a sound education for all from basic through secondary schools.
Enforced school attendance.
Programme of accountability for performance by teachers and students.
Indeed this is no time for the government to be pussyfooting with education and the country's human capital must not be allowed to depreciate into a life that Thomas Hobbes, the social theorist and philosopher, described as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
Education must be treated with priority and given the attention it deserves starting with the 2001/2002-budget debate Mr. Minister we are all on education watch.
I am etc.,
DESMOND DAVY
E-mail: xdeefix@aol.com
Student
New York University
NYC
Via Go-Jamaica
