Dear Editor,

I read Lisa Hanna’s two-part column in the Jamaica Observer entitled ‘Up the down education escalator’. For the most part it was interesting; however, I wished she had taken the discourse further, and I disagreed with the solutions presented.

It is very alarming that such a high percentage of students leaving primary school lack reading, writing, basic comprehension skills, and the ability to think critically. Jamaica’s adult literacy rate of 88 per cent is too low. There will always be budgetary constraints, but other factors can be analysed and targeted to improve outcomes.

I would’ve preferred if Hanna didn’t use statistics which don’t always tell the full story. Jamaica is not abnormal in terms of the percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) and percentage of government budget spent on education. What matters more is the total amount spent relative to the population and how this translates into per student spending at each level of education. We should look at education cost as an investment and reward schools that deliver and work closely with schools that fail the system.

Hanna compared Jamaica’s low spending (per student) with Turkey, a First World country far away with very little commonalities. A better comparison would be with Barbados, our neighbour in the Caribbean. Barbados has a robust education system and a literacy rate close to 100 per cent. Although smaller in size, Barbados’ GDP is three times higher than Jamaica’s. Barbados spends more than five times per student than Jamaica and consistently achieves results.

Cuba, which has a larger population, also has an excellent education system, with almost 100 per cent literacy rate, because it places strong emphasis on education. The curriculum at the secondary level is broad and includes practical courses, such as gardening, health, and hygiene. The country’s secondary system is split into two: a basic level, after which students are streamed into pre-university, technical, or professional programmes based on aptitude and interests.

I think if we examined both Barbados and Cuba, which are at opposite ends of the spectrum, in terms of wealth and population size, we could learn how to improve Jamaica’s education sector.

An educated society will have depressed crime statistics; prosper and demand greater accountability and efficiency from Government; and propel the private sector to drive profits, which ultimately benefit the country and its people.

There are other factors besides government spending which must be examined to transform the sector. When I went to school, for instance, the curriculum was well rounded and interesting. We often had class excursions to historical sites and museums, as well as radio and TV stations. Civics was important.

Some of Hanna’s suggestions were far-fetched. Offering special National Housing Trust (NHT) concessions to teachers won’t work. How would the NHT justify a preferred advantage of one group over another?

Likewise, asking the private sector to fund 50 per cent of the education budget is also far-fetched. There is a reason one sector is private (for profit) and the other public (non profit). Both sectors have different objectives and expertise. The private sector will always have some level of social responsibility, but you can’t expect it to run lotteries, issue bonds and long-term loans to fund education.

If I could offer one suggestion for funding, it would be to aggressively target the billions lost each year due to corruption and rampant waste. We can do this by using audit experts to review and tighten controls in all areas of governance. We can strengthen laws to empower oversight agencies to do their jobs more effectively and we must prosecute quickly and seize assets to recover proceeds from these crimes.

Hanna also highlighted percentage to GDP and budget spending in select countries, this was benchmarked against the average from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Hanna should’ve explained that the OECD is a group of mostly wealthy countries, with very high GDP per capita which allows for higher spending per student. We are not in the same league as the USA and Norway, so let’s not focus too much on those comparisons.

Spending per student isn’t the only issue, we must invest more and enhance the curriculum to achieve better results; we must improve compensation to teachers to attract and retain the best; and we must ensure that students are well nourished at schools. We seem to be failing most at the primary level, which amplifies the problem at secondary and tertiary levels.

According to the Human Rights Measuring Initiative (HRMI), Jamaica falls very short in spending on education relative to its resources, we spend only 62.8 per cent at the primary level and 77.1 per cent at the secondary level. There is no excuse for these numbers to not be closer to 100 per cent, considering our income.

Education is indeed a fundamental right, and we must make every effort to expeditiously improve the sector. We cannot develop and improve standards of living without a robust education system. Likewise, we cannot reduce crime without a drastic transformation of the education sector. It is a worthwhile investment which will bear meaningful, long-term benefits.

P Chin

chin_p@yahoo.com