Dear Editor,

Work is no disgrace; it is idleness which is a disgrace — Hesiod

The lack of adequate skilled employees is a growing concern for many in academia and the private sector. They fear that this paucity of talent may erode Jamaica’s ability to benefit from prospective investment projects, namely the highly touted logistics hub.

But this situation should be seen as an anomaly, since Jamaica is known for engaging in labour market surveys, so if a skills gap exists it clearly means that no attempt was made by either successive administrations or school administrators to modify the education system in order to meet the demands of the labour market. Was all the talk just for sound bites?

To make the scenario more untenable, the country’s CSEC results do not suggest that the labour market will become more competitive in the future, with the pass rates for both mathematics and English Language hovering below 60 per cent. And although some institutions are placing a greater emphasis on the acquisition of technical skills, this will not be enough to make a considerable difference.

We do not want to be purveyors of doom and gloom, but judging from recent history, it can be concluded that when the present training programmes have achieved their goals, and if the logistics hub is developed, political leaders will conveniently forget that it is necessary to plan for future industries. Therefore, the labour force will remain uncompetitive and our schools will churn out graduates with skills that are no longer relevant in the new economy.

Cynics may promulgate the view that policy inertia is actually a well orchestrated plan to ensure that citizens are unable to help themselves, thereby providing politicians with an opportunity to control a subservient population. Others may argue that an administration’s failure to execute policy is due to immature voters that are too easily distracted, thus reducing their ability to take anything seriously. No smart politician, who is interested in maintaining a fiefdom, would alter this state of affairs.

But it doesn’t really matter which view is correct, because the end result is skylarking and this creates generations of paupers. Change can only occur when citizens become more demanding and less frivolous. We should bash politicians for failing to translate their rhetoric into policies, instead of elevating nonsensical issues to matters of great concern or rebuking a prime minister whose priorities are clearly misplaced. We must constantly remind political leaders of their substantive policies, if they had any to begin with. Maybe then the people of Jamaica will be accorded some respect.

Lipton Matthews

lo_matthews@yahoo.com