Divisive political educational heritage
Published:Tuesday | October 18, 2022 | 12:06 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
Cuba, since its 1959 revolution to now, has had eight ministers of education. Fidel Castro did not use the revolution to discard the good things from their colonial past. In this regard the works of José Martí (1853-1895) especially, La Edad de Oro (The Golden Age). It is this living philosophy that has been used from basic/elementary to tertiary educational institutions to inculcate the quality of the type of values and attitudes needed in the transformation of their society.
Cubans have been able to withstand the oppressive assaults on their economy by the United States and its allies, by not surrendering the delivery of world-class health and education to its six million-plus population, with less financial resources than what Jamaica spent in the past 60 years. In April this year, UNESCO highlighted the achievements of Caribbean nations of placing “the priority given by the Cuban state to the preservation of universal policies of equal access and opportunities for the training of several generations of Cubans” (Prensa Latina).
Field of experiments
Jamaica, since Independence in 1962, has had 16 ministers of education, beginning with the appointment of Edwin Allen in 1962 to the current minister, Fayval Williams, in 2020.
Jamaica’s education over the past 60 years is a chequered, colourful football field of experiments, achievements and mostly disappointments. The Orlando Patterson, Jamaica Education Transformation Commission report described by The Gleaner as “A crisis of poor performance” (January 14), was presented to the Government in late 2021.
Efforts to end illiteracy and free access to tertiary education in comparison to Cuba, is our greatest failure. Access to free tertiary education was introduced in 1973, some 81 years after free elementary education was inaugurated in 1892. ‘Free education’ at the tertiary level was replaced by a 15 per cent cess roughly a decade later, in 1985.
We have a known mantra, ‘every child can learn, every child must learn’, which appears to have its origins from a famous quote throughout the education world by George Evans, who said, “Every child can learn. Just not on the same day or in the same way.” However, where is the published Jamaican philosophy to undergird it?
We have not reduced the pupil-teacher ratio at the primary and secondary levels for effective learning. We still await the promised five new secondary schools in 2018 by Ruel Reid (JIS March 5, 2018).
DUDLEY MCLEAN II
Mandeville, Manchester