THE suggestion that education would be better served if it were taken out of the hands of government was strongly mooted yesterday by educator Hyacinth Bennett, head of the Hydel Group of Schools in St Catherine.

“I don’t think we have had a country in which the government has really put education as a priority,” said Bennett. “I think that education has to be the lynchpin, it has to be at the centre of everything that we do.”

Bennett, a former president of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), observed that every time elections came around, education is brought up by the political parties.

“…But do they really mean it?” she asked. “One wonders whether the future of education should continue to be the prerogative of government or should we rethink who manages it?” she said at the regular news luncheon hosted by Observer chairman Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart at the company’s Beechwood Avenue headquarters in Kingston.

The luncheon guests, a mix of businessmen, senior media representatives, educators, human rights groups and other sectors, had a spirited discussion about education in Jamaica, agreeing generally on the crippling effect that poor educational standards have had on the nation’s productivity.

President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Christopher Zacca, presented data that painted a telling picture of the dismal state of the country’s education system.

Citing a study done by Growth Facilitators partner, Marguerite Orane, Zacca said that in technical high schools only 1.5 per cent of graduates passed mathematics at the CXC/GCE level last year; 4.7 per cent passed the subject at upgraded high schools; and 38 per cent at traditional high schools.

“Overall only 11.5 per cent of the students passed four subjects or more,” continued Zacca. “How can you have development with such a dismal education performance and what has led to this?” he asked.

CEO of SuperPlus Food Stores, Wayne Chen, said that he was not surprised by those numbers, saying that the country was consumed by a culture where education was not prioritised.

“We have put politics ahead of economics, we have put politics ahead of everything, even in the case of education,” said Chen. “What Chris (Zacca) is talking about is a logical outcome of what the policy has been and if you have a policy where basic education is starved of resources, this is the logical outcome.”

CEO of MegaMart, Gassan Azan, argued that Jamaica’s inadequate education level was like a cancer that permeated through the society.

“Education cuts across every fabric of our society and our development in Jamaica,” said Azan. “As a businessman, if I work with a more educated workforce it will cost me less to have them and it will cost me less in terms of security because the crime rate would be down. So the catalyst has got to be the spending on education and I am anxious to see what, if anything, will be done,” added Azan.

Taynia Nethersole, group legal advisor for the ATL/Sandals Group, questioned whether the political parties were really interested in having a highly educated population that would vote on issues.

“With good education comes independent thinking, people are able to think for themselves, weigh issues as opposed to just voting for red or green,” said Nethersole. “It doesn’t take any thought at all to vote orange or green. when you have an educated population, you have people who ask real questions,” Nethersole said.

The discussion concluded that the immediate way forward must be greater investment in the ailing sector.