Letter of the Day | Parked cars is not progress: flawed algebra of education ‘success’

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Senator Marlon Morgan’s recent assertion that “more teachers are owning homes and vehicles” under the current administration might have been encouraging, if it weren’t so glaringly disconnected from the lived realities of Jamaica’s educators. His evidence? A casual observation of school parking lots. This “anecdote-over-data” approach is not just unserious; it trivialises the systemic crises plaguing our education system.

Let’s unpack the senator’s new math: Cars in parking lots + mortgages = successful education policy. This equation, while creative, would earn any high school student an F in logic.

While the senator celebrates cars, he ignores the exodus of teachers fleeing underpaid posts and the critical shortage of qualified staff in key subjects like mathematics and science.

(According to the Jamaica Teaching Council (2022), fewer than 30 per cent of mathematics teachers at the primary level hold subject-specific certifications, a figure that dwindles to less than 20 per cent at the secondary level. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education’s 2023 annual report acknowledges that over 1,500 teachers left the profession between 2021 and 2023. To compound this, a 2023 Caribbean Policy Research Institute study found Jamaica has the highest teacher migration rate in the Caribbean, with an estimated 500 plus educators leaving annually.

If parking lots are the metric for success, let’s apply the senator’s formula universally:

- Overcrowded hospitals? Just count the ambulances outside!

- Crime crisis? Tally the police cars at the station!

- Failing agriculture? Measure the trucks at the market!

Alas, Jamaica’s students deserve more than arithmetic for toddlers. UNESCO recommends a maximum of 20:1 student-teacher ratio for primary schools. Jamaica’s average is 35:1. When 60 per cent of schools report inadequate STEM resources (Jamaica Education Transformation Commission, 2022), no number of parked cars can mask the decay.

If the administration wishes to tout ‘improved benefits’, let it explain why teacher salaries have stagnated at 70 per cent of the living wage (STATIN, 2023), forcing 65 per cent of educators to work second jobs (Jamaica Teachers’ Association survey, 2022).

Let it justify why education spending as a percentage of GDP has fallen from 6.1 per cent to 5.2 per cent since 2018 (World Bank, 2023), while Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago invest over seven per cent.

A parked car does not teach algebra. A mortgaged home does not fill vacancies for physics instructors. Jamaica’s students deserve leaders who prioritise their future over political theatre, and mathematics over mythology.

AN EDUCATOR