'Take education away from gov't'

[Dr.Dudd]

'Take education away from gov't'

JULIAN RICHARDSON, Observer staff reporter
Thursday, August 09, 2007



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.

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: 'Take education away from gov't'

I knew that this woman was a mental case all along.
How can for profit organizations be responsible for the education of all children in the country What you do do when they don't produce as expected?
Every body want to make a buck off government largase.
What they want is for the government to use taxpayers monies to pay them to do a worse job than th epublic education system is doing.
with all they are braying about,the public education system in Jamaica is much better than th eprivate schools.
the only area where private schools are ahead is in th eelementary department,and that is because they get the children of the better educated who are able to pay.
Those others are either lame brained or dishonest. They know why the education system is the country is so, and they all contribute dto it being so.
The business sector is responsible for the poor state of the education system.
Sandals give million dollar scholarships to American university,but pennies to in comparison to local education system. Their top management are not intested in Jamaica other than to use it like a fishing ground. they just take and take and take and then ship the profits to other countries.
then they blame government for the problem. Government is responsible,but they are really responsible for not holding those who benefits most from the country to adequately pay their fair sharefor those benefits.

[raejeanj]

Re: 'Take education away from gov't'

I don't believe that taking the system private would be better or even that it would work. Who is going to pay for it? Having said that I don't see where the government is doing all it should/could either. Having just returned from the funeral of a friend in Grange Hill, the week I was there they came to lock off the lights and water to the school. They held a fundraiser to keep them on. The teacher I was staying with has 60 grade 1 children this year and no real supplies. I cannot imagine having 60 6 year old students let alone being expected to teach them without adequate supplies. She considers herself lucky because in years past she has had up to 120 in her classe. I have met other teachers who have been without chalk for up to six months at a time. Between school fees, book fees, transportation and lunch fees and lets not forget uniform fees how are the unemployed and poor suppose to educate their children.

On my last trip I went into Red Ground to deliver 120 toys. While their I saw at least 50 children who were not in school who should have been. When I questioned it the response was, "their parents cannot afford it."

I don't have the answers just the observations and I do think shuffling some of the load on industry making millions is a good idea but what else?

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: 'Take education away from gov't'

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: raejeanj</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I don't believe that taking the system private would be better or even that it would work. Who is going to pay for it? Having said that I don't see where the government is doing all it should/could either. Having just returned from the funeral of a friend in Grange Hill, the week I was there they came to lock off the lights and water to the school. They held a fundraiser to keep them on. The teacher I was staying with has 60 grade 1 children this year and no real supplies. I cannot imagine having 60 6 year old students let alone being expected to teach them without adequate supplies. She considers herself lucky because in years past she has had up to 120 in her classe. I have met other teachers who have been without chalk for up to six months at a time. Between school fees, book fees, transportation and lunch fees and lets not forget uniform fees how are the unemployed and poor suppose to educate their children.

On my last trip I went into Red Ground to deliver 120 toys. While their I saw at least 50 children who were not in school who should have been. When I questioned it the response was, "their parents cannot afford it."

I don't have the answers just the observations and I do think shuffling some of the load on industry making millions is a good idea but what else?

</div></div>
Jamaica need to improve not it's GDP as it's income disparity.
That is to increase the earning power of the workers. It is only buy increasing th eearning power of the masses, that they tax collection will be there to improve essential services like education,healthcare and crime reduction.
They can promise anything,but what they will do is to cover up and present false picture of the situation.

[raejeanj]

Re: 'Take education away from gov't'

There really are no easy answers are there? I was listening to all the political forums while on the island and it was at best discouraging. The people I talked with wanted a change but really did not believe their would be any regardless of the outcome of the election.

Seems empty promises are something that they are used to.