Prime Minister Freundel Stuart says tertiary education in Barbados will remain free across the board, dismissing suggestions that only the “less well off” should receive state subsidies. And he insists that reintroducing tuition fees would be a step backwards in the country’s development. – DAILY NATION, November 15, 2011.
Errol Barrow is dead. As is well known by now, history is a great mocker and, true to form, he has bowled one of his famous unreadable googlies and ensured that it was the party of Errol Walton Barrow that presided over the termination of his most significant policy measure – free tertiary education in Barbados.
The children have now interred the father.
It was, however, a premature death that could easily have been avoided. There were several layers of alternative policy that could have been pursued before the “last resort” step of the imposition of tuition fees on Barbadian students was pursued. It was too precious a legacy, and the social fallout from such an extreme policy shift too great, to be brushed aside so hastily.
Time limits for completion could have been placed on students. Once they had exceeded their allotted time, they could have borne the future cost of their education.
Secondly, students could have been barred from changing degree options in mid-stream, or asked to bear the cost. They could have been asked to shoulder the financial burden of repeat courses. Fourthly, students could have been allowed one free undergraduate degree only and called upon to pay for any additional degrees which they hoped to pursue.
Further, once such limits were imposed, the University of the West Indies’ own internal response would have facilitated a re-examination of its amenities such as free bus rides, among others. Generally, too, students, through their guild, would have been forced to show greater sensitivity to taxpayers in their public conduct and social behaviour.
But, alas, the ideological forces pushing for ending the Barrow era won the day.
While it is appreciated that this was no doubt a difficult decision for the Democratic Labour Party, the “eulogies” which accompanied the end of free education smacked of callousness. As can be gleaned from the above honest expression by the Prime Minister of Barbados in November 2011, only the most partisan cannot see the termination of free education as a “backward step”, marking the formal death of Barrow’s historical legacy.
However, the country heard speeches that suggested those who never had tertiary education “missed nothing” and others descended to attacking lecturers, instead of humbly explaining the policy rationale. Only Ronald Jones, sounding genuinely burdened, treated the moment respectfully.
As 2016 looms, 50th anniversary of Independence celebrations of Barrow are expected. However, the formal termination of his legacy in the 2013 Budget has ensured that any such celebrations will have the quality of a wake – or requiem.
• Tennyson Joseph is a political scientist at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, specializing in regional affairs.