Damion Mitchell, Staff Reporter
CHANCELLOR OF the University of the Technology (UTech), Sir William 'Bill' Morris, yesterday warned that consensus on funding for education should not be built on the lowest common denominator.
He said while there has been a consensus between the Government and the Opposition to increase the budgetary allocation to education, much more needed to be done to improve the sector.
He was speaking at the morning session of the 2003 UTech graduation ceremony in St. Andrew yesterday.
Last month the Government and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party agreed that the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Education should be increased from 10 per cent of the national budget to 15 per cent.
But according to Sir William, "the economic and social imperatives of our country demand increased targets, widening participation and additional investment in education, including investment in our teachers."
Referring to announced plans by the Government to reduce subventions for tertiary institutions, he said this was "not quite the way to create the boundaries and widen participation in education."
He told The Sunday Gleaner after the graduation ceremony, that while he acknowledged that there was need for a re-ordering of the education budget, a reduction in subvention to tertiary institutions should be done after the "widest possible (public) consultation".
The Education Ministry had said that the cutback, which becomes effective in 2005, would ensure that more money was spent at the early childhood level.
He told graduates that they were among the "highly privileged" seven per cent of Jamaicans who have had university education and that as academically qualified citizens, they should assist with the further development of their country.
"I challenge you to join in the reconstruction of our country (by) building the bridges of peace, fuelling the engine of economic growth, restoring the spirit of caring communities and rolling back the ignorance of frontiers of poverty," he said.
