The Jamaica Labour Party..again and again..with free education
26 07 2007
Well tonight I was looking at You Tube, only to see the new posting from the Jamaica Labour Party. What they have done is edited Andrew Holness’ ad which says he is bringing us free education with ALL the resources required for PRIMARY AND SECONDARY schools. Note that there is no mention of the fate of TERTIARY students. What a good thing I will soon be finished with UWI. Anyway, they have posted that “home video” looking commercial to You Tube which you can watch here:
check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-C1CmKUQGk
What is interesting is this. From I was born I have never heard of the Government of Jamaica giving back refunds (except unused NHT contributions), for anything. In this ad, they proclaim that if you have already paid the school fees they will refund you your money. If you can’t afford it…not to worry, they will pay it for you. Well if that isn’t double talk I don’t know what is. If you giving me something FREE then how does the argument of UN-AFFORDABILITY come into play? I just don’t know how.
Also, I am still baffled as to how this education issue is going to play out in the long run…where is the money coming from to afford all of this? I won’t stop asking this until August 27th. What happens then, Bruce Golding if EVERY SINGLE PARENT proclaims that they cannot afford the school fee??
Welcome back Verses! I know it is the right of the Government to provide FREE education but it is also their obligation to provide FREE and QUALITY education. There is no way the JLP can offer those…..
No…I saying that BOTH need new approaches. I think they need to have more parental involvement in this education thing. Going FREE is not synonymous with QUALITY….holding all ither things constant. The teaching profession has been neglected and the first stepw ould be to attract quality teachers….you will only do this with increasing the salary scale…..both need to look at that……but making it free in my opinion is a step in the wrong direction.
The Jamaican Government spent over approximately 81 million US dollars on cricket world cup in hopes that the games would bring in additional revenue for the country. It is sad that they think that cricket is a good way of bringing in money both short term and long term. Indeed, in order for the secondary education to become a profitable turnover is 10 years down the road, i think it is a valuable investment as the alternate is under educated Jamaicans who love cricket.
81 million US dollars used to pay for secondary education could send each child to school for 5 years. The question that should be asked is where did they get the money for cricket world cup, and why would it be a hard task to get even a fraction of 81 million dollars to send even half the secondary population to school.
Maybe the government should ask countries such as Haiti how is it possible that they can offer FREE public education to all citizens and take a page out of their book with that respect.
Links to info in comment
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060831/news/news2.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Cricket_World_Cup
http://lekolblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/education1.htm
Hi
There are many issues in Jamaica that irk me, however, I temper my voice as I consider the diaspora cannot solve the problems in Jamaica from OUTSIDE the country. Our viewpoints are blurred by nostalgia.
I respectfully point to this article in the Observer.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/html/20070724t000000-0500_125572_obs_timely_ideas_at_a_volatile_time__.asp
Jamaica has a debt problem of 0ne trillion Dollars (yes trillion) and the island is borrowing more to pay off previous interest, so is ANY party going to have the funding?
Jamaica’s GNP is negative, and has been for years, so what is to be done about that aspect?
The idea to collect more taxes to impement this political rhetoric is foolhardy and is asking the population to “suck salt through wooden spoon”. Nothing is “free” in the global economy and the “piper has to be paid”.
I will NEVER object to QUALITY education for ALL, however, the methodology that the parties are expressing is tantamont to “vote getting” with the proverbial smoke and mirrors approch.
Thanks and have a great day
And Jamaican Girl, you said “but making it free in my opinion is a step in the wrong direction.” Education i think is a right that is should be given to all citizens upon birth and not only privy to the wealthy or well-off. Giving free education you say may reduce the quality of the education, however the alternative for some is no education at all. The solution may not be as clear cut as the JLP has put…free or all as certain factors that may decrease the quality of education such as teachers salary, i’m sure as with all other things there is a solution to that problem, if they work towards it they will find it and make the idea of free education a plausible one.
If the government had stopped looking at crime as just bad people doing bad things and try and find and combat the source they would realize that most of the time its a lack of education that caused many of our citizens to turn to a life of crime in order to make ends meet and im sure that if they found a solution to free education the percentage of crime and convicts would decrease dramatically (or make smarter criminals lol)
Verses….I hear you. I didn’t expect teachers to become multi-millionaires out of teaching. That’s not possible. I wouldn’t mind teaching but not at those salaries. I know many teachers who want to leave the classroom because the salary is pittance. Be fair….don’t you think that raising the salary bar would attract a higher grade of teachers? I remember the Observer ran a feature on my old school…Immaculate…and they said that one of the things they did was to charge an extra fee in order to keep their good teachers….what we have today in the education system (generally) is a joke. If one cannot afford to pay the $5000.00 there is the PATH programme. Portia has already said that they need to rework the formula in order to be more inclusive. I am sorry if you feel the shame of applying to them, however, when I read the Star and papers in that category, these same people who say they don’t have it to pay, spend a lot more on frivilous items such as new hairstyles, clothing, cell phone credit etc. Priorties need to be revisited. I am one of those people who beleive in social responsibilty on the government’s part as well as the citizens. I noticed that they have not addressed tertiary education…..this is where you will find a lot of people who are voting age…..most people who attend government subsidised tertiary institutions cannot even afford their partof the fee (20%)…what will become of these people? Are you saying that we should cut subsidies to these institutions? Just curious.
Well Verses, they have made no mention of it and I recall hearing one JLP candidate on TV saying that tertiary education is not a priority…I HEARD that with my own ears. SLB is a farce if you ask me…..I have been there once before and unless you have a pit latrine at home you will never get the loan….I went there because I felt that as a taxpayer I DESERVE to get a loan from them. Instead, they are designed to help the poorest of the poor….it’s like betting on a losing horse…because how can you loan out all of your money to poor people….is it any wonder they have trouble collecting from borrowers?
Verses…don’t get me wrong you know….if you hear the talk shows you will hear that most people are saying that the cost is NOT the issue…it is the QUALITY. This is why you have a lot of people killing themselves to get their child into PRIVATE prep schools…..because they know that the public system is of poor quality. This is evidenced in the fact that if you call any of the prep schools around town, you will hear that the minute you are pregnant you must start applying to them…..
Verses, you must be one of the only few who don’t understand that it is the QUALITY people are concerned with. Have you been listening to the talk shows? I have heard everyone from helper to office worker to business owner call in and say that they do not mind paying the $5000.00. It is the quality of the education that they are concerned about. From day 1 of education tax collection started by Edward Seaga I never ever thought that it was going towards education….that is a common view. Let me ask you this….if people are complaining about the poor system of education now, do you in all honesty think that once the $5000.00 is removed from parents, we will get brighter children? Imagine if we are paying for something now and this is what we get…..you think that any government will be able to improve the quality of education + subsidise it 100%?
Fee or Free?
Sorry to cut into the conversation but u cant deny a very large portion of Jamaica’s parents cannot afford to send their kids to school…at this point quality does not matter. There are many other ways to increase the quality of teaching while making education free…
Jamaica spend US$81 million on cricket world up in hopes that the event brings in tourism, investors etc. Now i think that however long term of an investment it may be, that educating our population comes first and foremost, that will pay off waaay more than any sporting event could. 81million US could send all the kids at a secondary level to school for over 5 years and if you include the raising the teachers salary who knows how long. the point is the less burden you take off the parents the more time they have to concentrate on feeding their kids and teaching them what is wrong or right. Maybe then violence and vandalism in schools will decrease, rather than churning out a select few ‘bright sparks’ and throwing the less fortunate to the dogs to be a scourge on society.
Shonari….I am not saying that there are people who cannot afford the money at all…this is why they have the PATH program. No child is left behind…there is always some social safety net to help. The problem is that we need quality education and if you listen to the air waves you will hear people saying that this is what they want…..but you can’t get it for free….personally if I were a school teacher teaching in the Government system, I would be giving the students what they (the govt) paid for….anything extra…there is a charge….teachers are demotivated and this free education excitement is not helping the situation….human resources will suffer….so let’s say that the JLP provides us with the infrastructure…..who is going to be teaching these children? Not the quality teachers needed for the education system to be successful.
It’s a pity that so many people think that “education is a right’. I do agree that it’s the government’s responsibility to provide education up to the secondary level, in the same way I accept that I am responsible for the development of my childen up to age 18. After that, it becomes a PRIVELEGE.
In the developed countries, US and Canada for instance, students are expected to pay for tertiary education. There are scholarships, bursaries, and loans to assist the students with meeting their needs.
I left High School at age 16, simply because I wanted to earn my own money. Coming from a poor background, that was understandable, now that I look back on it. I worked for 5 years, saved my money, went to college and then started a family. But I was not satisfied, so I saved more money and with a bursary, and a loan was able to complete my first degree. I saved to make a downpayment on my first home, saved to purchase my first car. I did not purchase a piece of jewellery for myself until my children had finished High School and were in University…..and I felt I could afford it.
Nowadays it’s not so. Everybody wants to own a car by age 21. Everybody wants to own a house by age 25. Everybody wants to drive the latest model cars and live in two and three storey house. Then they bawl out how di govament nuh do nuttn fi dem!!!!!!!
Many of the parents crying out how di dem cyan’t find di school fee turn up in the Principal’s Office, bedecked in the latest dance hall styles, wid hair of various colours and 40 “gole-chain” round dem neck….yet they cannot afford the school fee.
The problem with Jamaica nowadays, is that our young people want everything….and they want it NOW. That’s not how life is in other countries…..not even in the “Great US of A.”
We need to order our priorities, set goals and work hard to achieve them. When things come easy we tend not to care it and so we lose it just as easy as they come.