BLP COLUMN: No to NACE proposal

THE RECENTLY RELEASED REPORT of the National Advisory Commission on Education (NACE) contains a recommendation that a Mia Mottley-led Barbados Labour Party cannot support and will never espouse. In reviewing the funding of scholarship programmes for tertiary education, the Commission came to the astounding conclusion that the Barbados Scholarship should only be tenable at the University of the West Indies. It also went a step further. If NACE has its way, the scholarship will be restricted to areas of study defined by a National Scholarship Committee.This is a brutal betrayal of our young people aiming for the summit of academic excellence at the undergraduate level. While we appreciate the need to expand the range of scholarships available, particularly in non-traditional areas, it must not be at the expense of the Barbados Scholarship and the right of academically gifted young people to pursue their dreams.The blogs frequented by young people are railing against this proposal by NACE and not without justification. They should know that Mia Mottley in a recent speech to undergraduates at Cave Hill recommended the exact opposite.On that occasion, Miss Mottley advanced the idea that our young people needed greater exposure to their peers in other countries as a means of building contacts and networks in a shrinking global environment that would empower them in their future careers.She challenged the University to seek global alliances with other leading universities in China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America in joint exchange programmes that would allow Caribbean students to engage the world.She went further, giving the assurance that a future Barbados Labour Party government would establish a fund that would allow, through part grant, part loans at least one quarter of the Barbadian student body at UWI to spend six months to a year at participating universities outside of the region.Barbados has a tradition and a reputation of investing in the development of our people through education. Through the years we have supplied the region and beyond with teachers, nurses, magistrates and policemen. More recently, the Barbados Labour Party has supported the goal of having one university graduate in every household. We do not share the Prime Minister’s view that we may not be able provide jobs for our graduates.We must have the confidence, self belief and vision to take the investment in our people to a new level. This investment, from pre-primary to tertiary level is what has brought us as a nation to where we are today and it will of necessity take us further. We already know that tourism, agriculture and manufacturing alone are not enough to support growth in our economy. Investment to expand the knowledge base of our citizens is a must.And there is something else – the value of tradition and reward as a motivating factor. So long as our young people continue to see the Barbados Scholarship as a goal worth aiming for, they will continue to strive for academic excellence. Part of its appeal is that it allows them to attend Harvard, Oxford, M.I.T. and other leading universities to experience the cultures of other peoples and places.They are as unimpressed with this recommendation from NACE as we are. We must no be so shortsighted that penny-pinching on the Barbados Scholarship results in de-motivation of our young people or devaluation of the Scholarship in their eyes.We should be adding to both the investment and the motivational factors required to make future generations better than their global peers. The future success of our nation will depend on them.