The Editor, Sir:

There is ample evidence that successive governments have not given sufficient priority to quality education and it is high time this becomes our priority. High crime rates, poor exam performance, climbing illiteracy rates and many other antisocial behaviours are evidence of this. Just look at the various irrational arguments pitted against the current proposal to make education tuition-free up to the secondary level. Some countries which are more serious about education not only provide free tuition, books, lunch etc., but also compensate parents for good, conscientious attendance of classes by student.

Suffer the little children

Are we willing to demonstrate our contempt for the poor and write off all those children of minimum wage earners - many of them single mothers and many others, who are hard put to afford daily expenses of clothes, shoes, lunch money and bus fares etc., more so, the lump sum for tuition fees? And without the firmest commitment from Government, you cannot bet on this support either, whatever the expedient promises made. With the best will in the world and the known pride of our poor parents, many cannot afford the tuition fees and the children should not be made to suffer this cruel fate.

Issues like this should be beyond tribalist party politics and also beyond those severely limited by our poor educational system and who obviously lack the ability to think rationally. As a matter of fact, the press has a responsibility of leadership in this important issue and should not back away from this. But, as in so many instances, the press has failed the country in its need for leadership. Let us all put politics aside and embrace this issue belatedly.

the cost of ignorance

It is really a matter of what issue a Government places as priority. Is it quality education or other far less fundamental and important matters? And if we are not prepared to fund quality education, please calculate the cost of ignorance, crime, unemployability etc., which are th For comparison, Barbados, Trinidad and many smaller Caribbean countries spend more than five times what we spend on pre-tertiary education per child, including tuition fees. Is it any wonder their crime rates are much lower, their literacy rates much higher and their societies more cohesive and peaceful than ours. Their economic growth is rapid, while ours is stagnant.

We hear the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader have signed off on an ambitious project to make Jamaica a First-World country by the year 2030. How are we going to do this without committing a much higher percentage of our resources to educating our citizens, if we are serious about this objective?

Can we cease hearing this nonsense that we cannot afford more for quality education?

I am, etc.,

L.A. BERT RAMSAY

bert@cwjamaica.com