EDITORIAL - Strike one for Mr Thwaites

Ronnie Thwaites was refreshingly frank in Parliament on Wednesday in reporting on the state of education in Jamaica. His picture was grim.

But except for the farthest removed from such issues, Mr Thwaites, the education minister, would have felt a sense of déjà vu.

They have heard it before - of Jamaica's failing education system where:

About a third of the children leave the early-childhood system not ready for primary learning;

Forty per cent of the students who enter high school at grade seven perform below their grade level;

A fifth of the secondary cohort drop out by grade nine, and of those who make it to grade 11, only half sit five subjects at the Caribbean Examinations Council's (CXC) secondary education exams;

Of the 50 per cent who did the CXC exams in 2012, only 52 per cent passed English, and 38 per cent, mathematics;

And that 75 per cent of the youngsters who seek entry into the institutes for vocational skills run by the training agency HEART can't get in because of their low levels of literacy and numeracy.

CONCRETE SOLUTIONS NEEDED

"We cannot continue to accept mediocrity," said Mr Thwaites, in what we feel to be a charitable characterisation of the state of affairs.

But outlining the problems, however forcefully done, is not, as Mr Thwaites well knows, its solution.

Yet, the passion displayed by the minister on Wednesday was welcomed by this newspaper. We interpret it as indicative of Mr Thwaites' commitment to achieving the policy goals and the targets he outlined and, ultimately, the transformation of the education system.

Among targets are the annual increase of 10 per cent in the readiness of children entering primary school; an improvement by the same number of those who meet the literacy and numeracy inventory at grade four; and that by 2016, the entire secondary-school cohort will write CXC secondary-school exams or appropriate vocational alternatives to earn a high-school diploma. Each student will be expected to leave school with at least one marketable skill.

Achieving even these moderate targets notwithstanding, the pathways outlined by Mr Thwaites won't be easy.

STAND UP TO JTA

Not least of the minister's problems will be resistance by special interests, particularly the teachers' union, the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), with whom Mr Thwaites has been attempting to cosy up.

We expect that the union will attempt to trade their support for the initiatives for the maintenance of the exceedingly generous perquisites, such as taxpayer-financed study leave, extensive vacation leave, and job tenure.

The fact is that given the poor return taxpayers get for the $75 billion a year they spend on education, and the country's crisis of debt, the largesse to teachers is no longer affordable - and certainly not in its current form.

Mr Thwaites must insist on basic, non-negotiable performance standards to which schools must adhere. He must stand firm on these. However, the minister and the Government should be prepared to entertain discussions on verifiable performance-related bonuses when schools and teachers exceed, within defined bands, performance targets.

In the past, the JTA has displayed a knee-jerk aversion to anything that seeks to measure the performance of teachers. The crisis in education is too deep for them to maintain this stance.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.