The education debate is on in earnest. It fires up the current election campaign for a simple reason. Ignited by Opposition Leader Edward Seaga, it appears to have stolen thunder from one of the more electrifying episodes of Jamaica's parliamentary history.
It happened on May 2, 1973 as then Prime Minister Michael Manley transfixed the Gordon House chamber with the "free education" climax to his Budget Speech. So moved was the Opposition's Edwin Allen that he crossed the floor to shake Mr. Manley's hand.
The Seaga move therefore - his protestations otherwise notwithstanding - is a political coup of sorts. It leaves the PNP in apparent contradiction to a policy its former leader had so dramatically broached to Parliament and the nation.
As we see it the argument about the cost of free education is a worthwhile academic exercise which cannot be proved conclusively either way before it actually happens. The value of the debate is to open up for public edification the roots of a dilemma that is critical to future development. Why is the state of education so uneven across class and social lines in this divided society?
The debate has benefited not so much from the platform claims about possible sources of funding; but from some of the contributions in media debates including the pages of this newspaper.
It is sobering to discover, for example, that much of the weaknesses in the education system can be traced to inadequate numbers of trained teachers. According to Dr. Ralph Thompson, only a third of the 302 lecturers at teacher training colleges are at satisfactory professional levels.
Early childhood education is the most neglected area of the system. And it is at this stage that character development takes root and appropriate social attitudes are nurtured. Yet there is no proper regulation of so-called basic schools more often than not run by untrained teachers with little grasp of Standard English.
The uneven production of traditional as against non-traditional secondary schools has been well documented in the recent series done by our own columnist Professor Stephen Vasciannie.
We venture to suggest that much of the violence which plagues this society derives from the uneducated who have not mastered the nuances of reasoning that should prevent argument turning into conflict. Simply put, the fight follows the fuss when talk fails to satisfy.
The election debate may win or lose the election; but the challenges posed will still face the nation.
