Seaga: "It is a result of this why 75 per cent of students leaving secondary schools are leaving without a single pass in any subject... In the name of God, how can you call that an education system? It is a living lie." - File EDWARD SEAGA, JLP leader, has promised that if his party forms the next Government, he would not raise taxes or go beyond "the Government's coffers" to support his plan to abolish cost-sharing in secondary schools.
Speaking to supporters on Wednesday night at a fund-raiser at Carlos Café, St. Andrew, for Laurie Broderick, the Jamaica Labour Party's candidate for Clarendon Northern in the upcoming general election, Mr. Seaga said he was prepared also to make education free from the basic school level.
"This is not an election gimmick," the JLP leader declared. "I have been putting this plan together since 1997... the records will show that I spoke about it in two consecutive budget presentations."
Dismissing suggestions that he would not be able to find the money to fund the plan, Mr. Seaga said, "First of all, it should never be about the cost... we are not an irresponsible party. When we say we are going to do this, it simply means we have the mechanisms to do so."
He said that contrary to what was being floated around, it would not cost the Government $1 billion if cost-sharing was abolished.
"When you take away what the parents are paying, the Government's portion is only $500 million... Is that asking too much? This is money which under this Government gets lost every day... gets wasted or stolen every month... it should never be about the cost. My education plan is a very comprehensive one. It involves free education from the basic level and also more training for teachers... This will take it up to the billion dollars."
The ruling People's National Party has been blasting as an election gimmick and one which the country could ill-afford, Mr. Seaga's plan to get rid of cost-sharing in secondary schools, where parents are asked to assist with tuition fees.
But with the start of the new school year, fewer than two weeks away and buoyed by the unexpected support of the Jamaica Teachers' Association, Mr. Seaga appears convinced that his party is on the right end of what is turning out to be a major campaign issue.
On Tuesday, the JTA said it was in favour of abolishing cost-sharing in schools.
Noting that a good basic school education was "extremely critical" to a child's development, Mr. Seaga said that "when you go around the country and see what passes for basic schools, it is utterly disgraceful... a little one-room place where teachers and students have to cram in... hard-pressed to find space."
BASIC SCHOOL REVAMP
"Five years ago it was I who expounded on the need for basic school reform," he said. "The cost of going to basic school today is just as high as what parents have to pay at the secondary level. Because of this, we find that many students either are not attending school or have been going on certain days (only). At the basic level is where we have to get to them... this is a critical level that helps to shape their future development."
He added: "It is no wonder 30 per cent of our students at ages 11 and 12 can't read and write and are ill-equipped to enter the secondary schools. They are underdeveloped from the basic level and are therefore at a loss when they get to the primary schools. It is a result of this why 75 per cent of students leaving secondary schools are leaving without a single pass in any subject... In the name of God, how can you call that an education system? It is a living lie."
Mr. Seaga said it was his intention also to extend the age limit from 16 to 18 for students leaving secondary schools.
"A student leaving school at age 16 and without a single pass... how far can that child go in this world? What is he/she going to do? I say, give them an extra two years to develop, especially in English and mathematics."
He said also that a JLP Government would guarantee "equal education" for all, charging that the current administration had created a school culture whereby some schools are seen as "the name-brand schools and the others as the what-lefts."
"A child going to Campion is the beneficiary of three times the amount of assistance given to a child that goes to, say, Tivoli," Mr. Seaga said. "We intend to equalise the amount of funds that go towards all schools. There is no poor country that is educated and no educated country that is poor."
