EDITORIAL - What about crown lands, Minister?

Education Minister Andrew Holness has made a national plea for landowners to consider donating property for school-building purposes. In making the plea, he revealed that nearly a third of the costs associated with erecting schools go towards the purchase of the land. It is likely that this appeal may become a talking point over the next few days.

We submit that, while a few generous souls have made such donations in the past and may consider doing so today, national development ought not really to rely on the benevolence of the altruistic or the wealthy. A point to note is that, traditionally, people who have less material resources have been more generous in their giving than the rich. And even with the example this week of 40 of America's billionaires pledging at least half of their wealth, totalling some $115 billion, to charity, we think it would take a super effort to get Jamaican property owners to donate land for public works on any significant scale. There was a time when the churches were at the forefront of providing educational opportunities, especially in rural Jamaica, but that is not the case these days and may very well be a reflection of the half-hearted response to charitable causes by their congregations.

The task of putting measures in place to create a better society falls squarely on the Government. We do not believe the availability of land should inhibit it from giving hope to thousands of young Jamaicans for whom education is pivotal to advancement. But the Government must be bold and creative in seeking to tackle this problem. It is a fact that large tracts of Government-owned or crown lands are to be found across the country. Why not target these, Minister?

Delinquent taxpayers' land

Then there are numerous plots of land for which owners have not paid taxes in many years. A well-managed data system at the relevant agencies should be able to identify such lands, and Government should serve notice on the owners to pay up or lose their property to human-development activities, such as education.

Although Mr Holness did not go into great detail, it would be useful to examine information such as cost per square foot and per student in determining the best value for any school-building programme. However, it is obvious that, in a tight money environment, lack of resources would be one of the factors retarding the growth of a school-building and expansion programme, and explains why there seem to be fewer and fewer structures going up these days.

Every government has articulated a priority role for education, and their success can be measured in the current state of education, with schools turning out more and more illiterates. Everyone agrees that despite all the past efforts, education is not in good shape today.

If the solution includes building more schools and expanding current institutions, then the Government needs to rethink the entire school-building process to take into consideration designing for enhanced learning while conserving resources, using environmentally friendly material, and finding the most efficient means of acquiring land.

We need a national education campaign with all hands on deck, including the churches and other independent sources, for the future of the nation rests on the success of such an initiative.

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