The education of a nation is one of the strongest foundations for social and economic advancement; however, we continue to experience a deficit in this area, and the novel coronavirus pandemic has only served to exacerbate this situation.

Many students continue to leave secondary education ill-equipped, and the meagre few that continue into higher education have to contend with the exorbitant tuition fees or fight to secure a space in local universities. This is one of the reasons some students have opted to study in other countries, including the now war-torn Ukraine, in hope of securing a better future for themselves and their families.

Hopefully, the students who recently fled the Ukraine will be able to find practical and timely solutions to continue or finish their studies.

It is clear that Jamaica needs to do more to ensure its citizenry benefits from a sustainable education system. The dynamics are not always comparable, but it is worth noting that Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago have an extremely high literacy rate, and their governments cover tuition fees up to the university level.

The Government of Jamaica may argue that it has received international recognition for being one of the countries which allocates a significant portion of its budget to education. While this may be true, the concern is that the country does not benefit from the investments made in education.

A recent review of Jamaica’s expenditure on education, commissioned by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Sector, which was jointly conducted by the World Bank and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), revealed that the country is not getting value for money spent in training teachers. The report calls into question the quality of graduates coming out of the teachers’ colleges (TCs), especially those lecturing at the tertiary level.

As a product of the system and someone who is an advocate for quality education, I have repeatedly used this space to articulate the need for an improved education system.

In a column I wrote, which was published in the Jamaica Observer on March 20, 2019, entitled ‘Quality input equals quality output’ I argued that many TC lecturers were not competent and qualified to execute their duties effectively.

In the previous month, February 18, 2019, I wrote a column in The Gleaner called ‘Teachers’ college lecturers need to do more research’, for which I was basically chastised by a senior adminstrator at a TC, who accused me of wanting to publicly embarrass the colleges. Nonetheless, I will unapologetically maintain that it is hypocritical and unprofessional for several TC lecturers to be supervising research theses when many of them have not even completed a thesis or published a research article.

The Ministry of Education has made improvements, in terms of establishing a policy document to guide the recruitment of lecturers; however, it is still insufficient to ask for merely five years of local teaching experience and a master’s degree.

I included the word local because I was once told by the administrators of a particular TC that I could no longer be employed because I had garnered the bulk of my experience in France and not Jamaica.

I have more than five years of experience, with ongoing doctoral studies and research publications. Importantly, also, I am not only qualified but have also achieved competency for the domain in question — French — as I have a certificate to prove my native-level competence in the language.

I am not bitter towards anyone involved, but I choose to mention this because it is likely that TCs miss out on competent professionals because of bureaucracy or intimidation.

School spirit is very important in our Jamaican society, and I admire when graduates are proud to be associated with their alma maters. However, beyond name recognition and reputation, the important question must be asked: How well are these graduates being prepared in content and pedagogy?

When I assess the Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC) syllabi, most of our teachers are unprepared to teach Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE ) content. Yet they are being told at the colleges that they are trained to teach up to the CAPE level.

On one hand, teachers are often reproached for their lack of quality; however, on the other hand, what real provisions are being made to enhance their pre-service experience?

The TCs are heavily under-resourced, and many lack the requisite infrastructure. When was the last time you visited one of the campuses? Some of the buildings are in a state of dilapidation. There is inadequate lab equipment for the sciences and modern languages. Even a common projector is a scarce commodity.

It is necessary to highlight that teachers are products of the education system. At the tertiary level we often get the blame for mediocre graduates. However, many of them are sent to us from our colleagues in the secondary system. The important skills that they should have developed in their formative years are often found lacking when they enter higher education.

Obviously, more work needs to be done at the early childhood and primary levels. Several reports have already confirmed this; otherwise, the cycle is going to continue.

Despite these limitations, TCs continue to prepare teachers for the global market, so they should not be daunted. Instead, they should be encouraged to improve on their weak areas.

Scores of our graduates are recruited globally and are doing exceptionally well. It simply shows that we have something to celebrate.

It is also important to note that not all teachers in the system are from the TCs; some were trained at respective universities. It would be useful to assess the outcome of these colleagues as well.

Oneil Madden is president of the Jamaica Association of French Teachers (JAFT). Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or oneil.madden@etu.uca.fr