THE EDITOR, Sir:
WE NOTED with cautious optimism the fact that the "government has allocated $30.2 billion to education this fiscal year, a $677 million increase over the last year." (The Gleaner, April 1, 2004).
We appreciate the fact that the Government has increased funding to tertiary education with the allocation to the University of the West Indies (UWI), moving from $1.6 billion in the last fiscal year to $4.0 billion.
The UWI students believe that this gesture by the Government will obviate the need for arbitrary increases in miscellaneous fees and the proposed massive increases in tuition fees for undergraduate and graduate degrees. Consequently, any topping-up of miscellaneous and tuition fees by the UWI will be seriously challenged.
We are particularly pleased with the gentle reminder by the Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw, that the Government has signed an historic bi-partisan agreement in October 2003, where the budgetary allocation to the Ministry of Education will increase from 10 to 15 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the next five years. This, as he pointed out, was short of the agreed annual allocation.
In the meantime, I will continue to press for an answer from the Government as to whether or not Jamaica's tertiary education sub-sector has been 'bounded', 'unbounded' or 'unbounded with qualifications' in the Schedule of Commitments given to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
I am, etc.,
ANTHONY WOODBURN
anthony.woodburn@
uwimona.edu.jm
Via Go-Jamaica.
