WITH THE STATE of the economy being a matter of continuing concern, a speech made by an Independent senator during the recently concluded Estimates debate raised the issue of technical and vocational education (TVET) from an interesting angle.
Senator Alwin Adams said that technical and vocational education had now assumed new economic prominence as an engine of growth, given the new age of technology. The senator, a former secondary school principal, told the chamber that he was not trying to pull down academia but rather bringing harmony between the two.
In his opinion, the time was long past when we should have placed greater emphasis on technological education since the academic achievements which had enabled this country to outperform its neighbours in times past were not necessarily what would allow the country to compete in this new age.
It was an interesting and deeply thought out perspective relevant to the importance of reshaping education in a post-colonial society in which heavy emphasis had previously been placed on academic education imposed on us by our colonial masters.
The Senator’s thesis is a persuasive one, for he drew on the approaches of other post-colonial societies, such as Singapore, Malaysia and other South Pacific countries. He reinforced his call for greater emphasis on technical and vocational education by showing how these societies had surged ahead of Barbados by placing greater emphasis on educational areas that are in keeping with their economic goals.
It is easy to agree with these sensible observations, and indeed successive administrations here have supported the promotion and enhancement of technical and vocational education as a complement to the academic offerings. In fact, the course offerings by the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic have aided economic growth and increased self-employment among the young, two valuable benefits of this enhanced approach.
However, the arresting point offered by the senator is that while growth of the order of three, four or five per cent per year may be our national aim, that rate of growth cannot be reached unless we have “that highly skilled, highly educated technologically savvy student coming out of our schools”.
Even before the senator spoke, it was clear that the local economy needs to be firing on all cylinders if we are to return to that stage where once again we can be punching above our weight; and it is in this context that we think the senator’s contribution has special merit, because in our search for growth, academic education alone will not suffice.
There has to be recognition that education aimed at the skills in international demand will greatly benefit us. There is clear local evidence that many of our young people are cleverly turning their minds and hands to building computer apps, and getting familiar with the skills required in the animation industry.
We have bright young people capable of great achievement. A young Barbadian was one of the pioneers in the development of the first Internet search engine, and there are many other youngsters eager and inclined towards exploring technical and vocational aspirations.
What Senator Adams was emphasising is that as a small open society with no natural resources except our people, Barbados has to develop its people as the centrepiece of economic growth. If that is our aim, we must embrace both academic and technical and vocational education.