THE PRIME Minister has finally named the task force to review the status and delivery of education in Jamaica which he had announced in his New Year's message. Dr. Rae Davis, President of the University of Technology, is to head a 14-member task force.
Mr. Patterson has been toying with the idea of an 'education revolution' for quite some time and as he goes through his last term as Prime Minister, parliamentarian and president of the People's National Party he has openly declared his wish to be remembered as providing for every Jamaican child the kind of educational opportunity which he enjoyed.
There is an ironic twist to the Prime Minister's wish. His educational opportunities began in the pre-Independence era of a colonial Jamaica when quantity and access were much less, but quality, it is widely felt, was much higher. It is a real pity that after more than 40 years of Independence during which every possible good intention for education, including making it free, has been made we are still so distant from a world class education system, even by comparison within CARICOM.
The legacy interest in education reform of a retiring Prime Minister will, we hope, impose a heavy performance demand on the task force. Perhaps only crime and the economy have been more talked about than education; and education is easily the most studied sector. There is already a National Policy on Education which was tabled in Parliament in 2001.
One day before the PM's announcement, a study on 'Private and Social Returns to Investment in Tertiary Education in Jamaica', funded by five stakeholder institutions and executed through the UNDP, was released. In general the study concluded that personal and public returns were comparatively high and greater investments can and should be made in tertiary education by beneficiaries. At the launch function, the Minister of Education called for a thorough examination of a philosophy of education for the country to guide the allocation of resources and the objectives and content of education.
The task force has its work cut out for it and is expected to deliver an action plan around ten terms of reference for a 'world-class education system'. The task is not as onerous as the chairman implied in his acceptance remarks. The problems of the education system are widely known. We do not wish to short-circuit the public consultations which are part of the process, but it is not likely that they will yield much that is new by way of analysis. What is urgently needed now is a simple strategic and holistic vision for education, a simple action plan, and the will to get things done now. We believe that no goal in this plan can be more fundamental than universal comprehensive literacy by age 12 by 2010. That target date is one full six-year primary school cycle from now; and no member of this year's Grade one cohort should be left behind.
