THE IMF premise is, as long as the State provides a good environment business will invest, people get jobs, earn income, consume; business expands, exports continue and the nation prospers. The IMF has no prescription for the private sector. The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) is a pressure group seeking a leg up for business in a hostile climate. A PSOJ only exists where things are bad for business — we nuh ready! Where business is at ease their clubs are for drinks, games and deals. The Jamaica Club once thrived, but now the black bourgeoisie is insecure. So when the PSOJ disappears by choice you will know we are open for business.

Peter Philips needs a good business environment. Why? It is a tax base he can harvest to finance the things we and the IMF expect. The news has been dominated by indiscretions of leaders of the teachers’ union. But the subtext of this David and Goliath struggle is the IMF. The union is upset at the prospect of losing out, and rightly so. But “bitter medicine” means we all have to lose a bit so the nation can gain. Did they not see the Greek crisis on TV these three years? Earth to Mars, JTA come in, please!

Why did the IMF cite education? The Ministry of Education (MOE) is no scapegoat; it’s a prodigal who spent $80b and hit 20 per cent and 38 per cent of target. National security does not get this much, yet achieves 50% plus of their mission; health is over 50 per cent of target. The MOE was being readied for the IMF as data mining began in 2012. That’s how parents now know that only 16 per cent of teachers of math studied math, and many who teach it did not pass CSEC Math. Or that 2,500 paid teachers are surplus to requirement, and since 600 teachers will retire soon that leaves 1,900 surplus. They did not give themselves jobs, so who erred? The IMF did their numbers and MOE data stands, but expect no praise for speaking the truth.

Education gets the largest slice of our taxes and underperforms massively. It is the prime investment and makes other investments happen. It is the key to growth. No educated nation is poor. The IMF knows if we get 80 per cent success — assume 20 per cent of our kids need Special Ed or are brain dead — from our educators we “gone clear”. Ronnie knows this; Peter knows; Paulwell can’t build a knowledge economy on 20 per cent passing math and 38 per cent English. Bunting can’t abate crime on 71 per cent unlettered; Fenton knows the educated live healthily. Bobby knows idiots “dandymite” fish and decimate forests to burn coal. School underpins all. The IMF knows education is the mother of all investment, key to prosperity. Let’s fix it!

Before the IMF returned we were mining data. The new minister did not just carry on, he wanted data “big ticket” items first. Few firms pay $5b a year wages; education spends $5b a month. It has over 1,000 boards (thousands of selfless volunteers) and principals to handle staff and cash; each is a fiefdom — grief! Friend, if 20 to 38 per cent of our kids reach the standard, where are yours? The four out of five who don’t make it? The three people who read this column know I support a class action against the ministry and its agents who mash up poor people’s kids and turn them out to crime after nine years of school. Fix it!

By late 2012 data confirmed the worst fears; solutions were sought and data managed to avoid public trauma. We have been misinformed for decades. The MOE is an inelegant, bumbling, hairy beast. HQ alone is a massive entity with 50 departments and 18 agencies, each an empire. The team and good civil servants mined, diagnosed and proffered beta solutions before the IMF did. The minister leached data to sensitise people to a new paradigm for education and kept Cabinet briefed. When the minister said only 16% of teachers of math were trained to teach it, and many of them had not passed CSEC Math was Cabinet moved? The public was blown away! Parents, businessmen who fund things and educators were shocked. No one but the MOE has the big picture. You can’t fight data with rhetoric!

Education has underperformed for decades yet some six ministries together do not get its cash. It has been rewarded but never punished for year-on-year failure; has the largest pension pot, the richest trade union, the most educated workforce with 80 per cent plus women, yet men rule it — shame! How could it perform so badly for so long? Who was in charge? So did IMF then say, start with the worst; “if MOE succeeds, all ministries can”. Meanwhile, the rhetoric was too hot so I went to my bush to cool out. Read on.

I was in the village square, rum in hand, talking about the gungo crop, rose apple dying out; Daddy White’s tomb was a problem. Do we tomb him, his wife and girlfriend the same day? a moral dilemma. Suddenly, “Den Doc, ow oono mek dem man deh bad oono off?” I was ambushed by an ex-teacher, ex-stud to his ex-students — damn pervert! “Well, you have to give and take” said I. He did not give up. “How yu can ave man weh stan up pon de back a de bull a cut im troat?” he intoned. “Yu kno seh de union president get pay by oono fe be president? A nuh union pay im a foono money pay dem no matta how lang dem be president; free ouse an SUV. A oono mek dem av chat!” I was intrigued. “De BITU, NWU or Lambert union nuh get pay and years leave from de boss man dem fe tun union president. Ah ongly oono pay dem fe tun union boss an dem a fight yu down?” Foolish talk, but sobering. “Yu nuh beleve me? A fe yu ministry pay de four man dem weh go bout a cuss oono an oono pay a nex man as locum fe wuk fe dem, while dem a bruk down yu baas,” Mesmerising. “Me see weh Gleaner seh an de man weh run fe dem union get two time fe yu money.” I got in my car as the info, rum and mental turbidity was too much. The ministry is a strange place, and this conundrum is above my pay grade. You check it!

Respect to the minister for the heavy lifting on behalf of the Cabinet and the ministry as the guinea pig of the public sector for the IMF. MOE is the IMF’s crucible, and finance lady Marcia a hero. After the Augean stable is clean any other ministry “a butta” — police, doctor, nurse, the lot. If a tertiary educated workforce will not read, reason or compromise we are doomed to 50 years more of grief. God help us!

The IMF is watching every move. My Washington friend says the educatio’n sector is the test of Jamaica’s resolve. If educated workers choose self over nation we will get no more drawdown. Why is the PSOJ silent? Ronnie, you bear the nations sin; stand firm. Education gets $80b and produces 20 (math) and 38 per cent (English) as end product. Your kid is not in there so you spend another $20b to fix him. If NWU or BITU workers do not get an employer 80-90 per cent product they would be fired and the unions disgraced.

Events of the last few weeks are not unimportant to the IMF. It is a struggle for the nation’s soul as much as value. Education is the touchstone. Washington knows if Ronnie fails the deal is in tatters. In future columns I will look at the IMF terms for education but parents, churches, unions, professionals, teachers, community groups must get active. If your child left school with a “cap and gown” only, get militant; form a group. Every revolution has a front line — welcome aboard. Stay conscious, my friend!

Dr Franklin Johnston is a strategist and project manager and advisor to the minister of education. franklinjohnstontoo@gmail.com