Marks ON TUESDAY, the managing director of Paymaster Limited Ms. Audrey Marks was the guest speaker at the Private Sector Organisation's (PSOJ) job creation monthly awards.
Her topic was the business of education in Jamaica.
The following are excerpts of her address.
In recent discussions I am told by some of our prominent business people that they will not be making any more speeches until after the general elections. There is something about being an entrepreneur; it becomes a norm to "go against the grain".
I want to share with you my thoughts on one of the most controversial election issues.
I am reminded of a quotation from Professor Don Robotham:
"In a society as violent, unstable and strife-torn as Jamaica is, the school system takes on a truly critical importance. The school is where close to 49 per cent of the population can be found on any given weekday, and it is there that the state and family make their largest single investment in the preparation and training of our future citizens"
That is why, winning by a landslide, as the topic of the election is the raging debate over our educational system. The debated issue of cost sharing vs. free, is very emotive, very good for politicking, but should not really be the fundamental issue. No Free Education
Make no doubt about it; there is no free education in our economic situation, given our public sector deficit and debt-servicing ratio of 120 per cent of GDP.
As taxpayers we will have to replace that $1 billion of individual contributions either by paying increased taxes now, or deferring it to the future through increased debt payments. Therefore the real question/ issue for us should be: Are we realising a positive return on our considerable investment of over $20 billion in the Jamaican Educational Output? In this discourse I will limit my statistical focus to the secondary education output as the same factors apply to both basic and primary education.
BACKGROUND
First, a necessary background:
Up to the year 1957, only 3 per cent of the Jamaican population had access to secondary education.
In 1957, after the introduction of Internal Self Government, the then Premier, NW Manley introduced a merit scholarship system whereby the top 10 per cent of our Jamaican children were provided a free place in the best secondary schools of the land. This was a system based on meritocracy, and the new academic elites did not disappoint as over time they provided Jamaica with its finest cadre of public servants and professionals.
By the post independence period, the government of the day started to dismantle the meritocracy, replacing NW Manley's scholarship system based on merit, with a quota system, which awarded 70 per cent of the scholarships to public elementary schools.
By 1973 Michael Manley abolished school fees for secondary schools, establishing "Free Education", opening the door for unlimited expansion and signalling a clear victory for quantity. However, by 1981 the then Prime Minister Edward Seaga found out that sustaining "free education" in a context of rapidly expanding school population was beyond the capacity of the public purse and therefore introduced a cess, thereby bringing an end to the experiment in free education. This policy has changed only contextually from a cess to cost sharing, with the succeeding and present administration.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI)
We can therefore conclude that the expansion of our educational product is indeed commendable, and has brought opportunities to thousands, including myself, who would have otherwise been excluded.
However, the reality of this policy of access is that it seemed to have been at the expense of quality. Recent published results reflect: The combined average academic results for traditional and non-traditional secondary schools showed a 31 per cent pass in Mathematics, and 51 per cent in English Language
In the non-traditional secondary schools the pass rate for Mathematics is 14 per cent and 39 per cent for English
Quality has not kept pace with quantity.
By any measurement the ROI of our collective $22 billion investment cannot muster a passing grade in the new global economy in which we all will have to compete.
VISION
The business of education is the most important commodity in our nation. To fully understand the importance of education we must first have a vision of the future of our nation. My proposed vision statement would be "To create a first class educational system that is rooted in modern technology, and equipped with the necessary resources to ensure maximum ROI, in order to guarantee a productive, stable Jamaica".
We are here to honour entrepreneurs- creators of business and employment - who would not have been here today, if they did not have a clear understanding of their four Ps, which are generally accepted as: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.
I believe that the 4Ps approach should be adapted, embraced and applied to the Business of Education, if we are to guarantee sustainable quality output. The four Ps of a first rate education system are Product, Price, Place and Partnership.
1ST P: PRODUCT
Paymaster's product is its system- the company's survival depends on this product giving quality output everyday. Special emphasis has therefore been placed on the training of customer representatives who deliver the service, the IT infrastructure that is the vehicle of service delivery, and clearly identifying and performing in the areas defined as customer demands and expectations such as: Accepting & facilitating past due and part-payment
The Jamaican educational system is our national product, and its development should be subjected to the same norms and procedures that apply to successful private enterprises. On this basis, we need to pause and make an assessment before committing any further expenditure to what, from all indicators, is not a good product at this time.
Any concept of free education that is limited to simply increasing quantitatively what we now have, without any consideration as to quality, will inevitably standardise a poor product.
Our experience from the 1970s tells us that it is the threat of mediocrity and the absence of quality, which makes parents who can afford to buy quality education choose to do so outside of Jamaica.
As a consequence we lose the greatly needed investment of private capital in the Jamaican product. For, it is this investment, which creates elite institutions to which the best aspire, and others seek to emulate.
2ND P: PRICE -
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
When we enter the world of the entrepreneur, we are forced to become multi-faceted wearing the hats of:
The accountant
The operations manager
The marketing manager
(And in cases like mine, the computer programmer and the lawyer).
We wear these hats until we can afford to pay for these specialised skill sets- a maximum of 2 years. Thereafter, as a result of growth, more specialised expertise is usually required.
The business of education is a mature business, and as such, the skill sets to manage such a mission critical enterprise should be in place. Our Ministry of Education oversees $ 22 billion in investment.
3RD P: PLACE - PROPERTY & FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
In business we try to ensure the best environment to produce and deliver our product.
Paymaster's Head office was carefully chosen and is carefully maintained to keep staff productive and support the company's operations. We also constantly work on our branch network to ensure same.
Our staffing is also carefully selected and trained with every effort made for retention, to ensure that high quality service is consistently delivered. It should be no different for the Business of Education:
The Ministry needs to ensure quality infrastructure and environment in the over 2000 schools in its branch network. Properties need to be properly managed & maintained- adequate light, water, desks, chairs, staffing- all the things that go with good facilities management.
THE 4TH AND FINAL P IS PARTNERSHIP
Paymaster would not have been a reality without Partnerships. In fact, I must reiterate how delighted I am to see so many of my partners as awardees today.
I would like to propose the view that it is primarily through partnership that the business of education will be able to guarantee a positive rate of return.
Looking back at the last 45 years I am convinced that Jamaica would have been better off had we maintained Norman Manley's meritocracy, that is, gradual access with full emphasis on combining quality with quantity.
At the present time an investment of $22 billion from the public purse, with the average Jamaican family making education their single largest investment, provides access for 80 per cent but with less than 25 per cent achieving internationally recognised competence in the vital areas of English, Mathematics and computer science.
This is not a good return on investment. Quantity & Quality must go hand in hand. We the parents and taxpayers cannot afford to get caught up in the rhetoric of options that are neither affordable nor sustainable.
I join with all those who call for a full national debate, on this vital area of national development. However, while this debate is proceeding, let me confess what I will be voting for. I will be voting that the next five years be spent on a planned program of qualitative improvement with emphasis on quality output.
This planned programme must include, and I reiterate: The introduction of specialised management to increase the productivity of the labour force in education which includes some 22,000 teachers, and to manage the properties and facilities in such a manner as to create a physical environment conducive to quality output.
Enhanced financial capacity to manage the nation's largest single investment.
The quality educational product of which I speak will yield a positive ROI, reflected in three Cs:
a) Competence & Certification
Particularly in the vital areas of English, mathematics & Science
b) Creation
Creating a better trained labour force with a all the positive implications for productivity and wealth creation,
c) Cohesion
A fundamental goal of education is social cohesion; that is the settling of disputes without resorting to violence. This cohesion is urgently needed in light of the fact that young men in the age group of 15-29 years commit 75 per cent of violent crimes in Jamaica and they also represent 75 per cent of the victims of crime.
This statistic is even more alarming in light of the fact that 'these young men numbering over 125,000 have undergone 4 years of secondary training without any certification'.
For such a product I would be a more than willing taxpayer, motivated by the knowledge that I would be contributing to a viable business of tremendous national importance, that being the Business of Education.
