THE FINANCING of Barbadian education has recently been dominating public discourse. This has been centred on government and personal financial responsibilities. It has been compounded by the blackmailing attempts of some groups who insist on holding our children to ransom in search of additional money for which they are not reasonably entitled.
Unfortunately, this issue has been dragged into the mire of political grandstanding and pandering. We have also heard the name of the outstanding national hero The Rt Excellent Errol Barrow being thrown into the messy pot.
The then Mr Barrow in his wisdom and care saw free education as the means to ensuring personal development. He saw it as the way to equip persons to take advantage of opportunities in the developing civil service that were previously held only by the elite few.
Today’s challenges are different mainly because of the success of the Barrow model. We now see persons of all walks of life competing equally (well almost) for jobs of every category. Hence, the role and focus of education has changed to that of national development.
Our citizens must now accept that this country has done well in preparing them and its now their time to give back in an effort to make it that much stronger and capable to not only compete but also win on the shrinking global stage. We were spent on and we must now pay back.
There was a time when this country stood out like a veritable beacon as the only one in our region that guaranteed free education from nursery through tertiary. This was well intended but was simply an act of living above our means. Hence, we found ourselves in debt to the UWI to the tune of more than 200 million dollars. We must take our heads out of the sand.
Recently, the cash-strapped Government of Barbados took the wise (and to my mind) generous decision to continue a scholarship programme for all Barbadians but limited to 80 per cent. Then, and most amazingly so, some for inexplicable reasons saw this as worthy of criticism.
Of course, it suddenly became a political football and the shouts came that 20 per cent was too much to pay. Who cares about Government’s ability to pay? What difference does it make that there are some professional students who spend seven and eight years on a three-year programme living off the fatted calf that now appears quite bony.
The inability to feed the calf is now seen by all when well educated and well positioned individuals who benefited from a revolving loan refuse to repay. This refusal that now has a gross of over $28 million is now blocking young aspiring students from being able to pursue their dreams. Of course, some expect the Government to swallow this as well.
The cost of education today is high, very high in comparison to what our Father of Independence would have envisioned. We no longer focus on rote learning with blackboard and slate. Technology and other related equipment and materials now impact heavily with great costs. We are already heavily taxed but still fall short of our financial needs.
We now find people who for years have advocated authentic assessment insisting on destroying our children if they are not paid more to do their expressed duties. I am a believer in the pillars of education that define our profession. We negotiate salaries and benefits consistent with this at the set times and not seek to blackmail.
We are paid to structure and align an appropriate curriculum and to manage our classrooms in a way that supports proper and impactful instruction. We must then assess in ways that show what was successful or otherwise about our instruction. Today, technology must also underpin what we do in the classroom.
Jeff Broomes is an experienced educator, principal and community organiser who also served as vice president of the BCA and director of the WICB. Email: [email protected]
