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Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Dear Reader,
Just in case our politicians think that we are all a bunch of fools or that everyone is smitten with partisan fever, we need to let them know that there are many of us who are fully aware that there is nothing free about free tuition, and that the issue of education ought to be dealt with in a manner commensurate with the gravity of the problem.
For the subject of education that is so critical to national development, to be treated in the shallow, partisan way that it is right now, is symptomatic of the deficiencies in the country's political system and those of us who are concerned about the nation's children should say so.
For anybody to be debating in the year 2007 whether or not education is every child's right, and that by extension their education costs ought to be taken care of by the state, seems patronising, if not ludicrous. This is the type of debate that would have been exciting in 1962 when we became independent, but certainly not now.
The point is that free tuition up to the secondary level and beyond, should have happened a long time ago, and yes, it must happen now! So let's get on with it and stop debating something that is a non-issue. The real trouble is that free tuition is only one small part of the very big equation of education, and our politicians who clearly must know this seem to be playing the usual partisan game.
There is no doubt that single mothers, in particular, and the poor generally, would benefit from the money (on average $7,000 per year), they would save from not paying school fees - money that could be diverted to cover the cost of books and school supplies. Moreover, the psychological stigma and pressure of not being able to pay would be lifted off the shoulders of the poor and working classes.
But that is the easiest part of education to fix, and the part that was perhaps giving the least trouble. Getting our children into school has not been the biggest problem in education, and that is substantiated by the consistently high enrolment figures of close to 90 per cent.
The statistics also show that those who are unable to pay have been effectively utilising the government's cost-sharing programme. The biggest problem in education has to do with the psychosocial preconditions that exist and the quality of education once the children step into the classrooms.
At the root of the problem is what I call "apartheid in education". It is a system of inequality and differentiation in which our schools are separated into Traditional High Schools on the one hand, and upgraded New Secondary Schools on the other.
The former are largely reserved for the middle and upper classes with a sprinkling here and there of children from the lower socio-economic grouping, and the latter, with an almost 100 per cent attendance of children of the poor and working classes.
The quality of education in the New Secondary Schools is completely consistent with the degrees of separation and inequality. The truth is that the country's so-called upgraded schools have been largely upgraded in name only, and the fundamental problems of pedagogy, classroom size, and the general lack of resources, not to mention that many of them are located in war zones, continue to entrench the disadvantaged position in which these schools are forced to operate.
Somebody needs to tell our politicians that free tuition is of little use if more and more of our children are becoming "uneducable", not because of any deficiencies in their cognitive abilities, but because of the social and economic problems they face day in and day out. What's the point of heralding free tuition when children can't go to school because of ongoing violence around them, or having to spend teaching time under their desks as gunshots sail through the school buildings?
What's the point of free tuition when children can't attend school regularly because they don't have bus fare and lunch money? What's the point of free tuition when children have no hope and see no value in education? What's the point of free tuition when we are turning out criminals and illiterates by the scores?
Let me state my position as clearly as I can. I am in support of anything that will lift the burden off the poor, but our education problem is much more than free tuition, and until we deal with problems of parenting, unemployment, and crime and violence, among others, the job of educating our children will become more and more difficult, even when the price tag is removed from the doors of our schools.
With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Dear Reader,
Just in case our politicians think that we are all a bunch of fools or that everyone is smitten with partisan fever, we need to let them know that there are many of us who are fully aware that there is nothing free about free tuition, and that the issue of education ought to be dealt with in a manner commensurate with the gravity of the problem.
For the subject of education that is so critical to national development, to be treated in the shallow, partisan way that it is right now, is symptomatic of the deficiencies in the country's political system and those of us who are concerned about the nation's children should say so.
For anybody to be debating in the year 2007 whether or not education is every child's right, and that by extension their education costs ought to be taken care of by the state, seems patronising, if not ludicrous. This is the type of debate that would have been exciting in 1962 when we became independent, but certainly not now.
The point is that free tuition up to the secondary level and beyond, should have happened a long time ago, and yes, it must happen now! So let's get on with it and stop debating something that is a non-issue. The real trouble is that free tuition is only one small part of the very big equation of education, and our politicians who clearly must know this seem to be playing the usual partisan game.
There is no doubt that single mothers, in particular, and the poor generally, would benefit from the money (on average $7,000 per year), they would save from not paying school fees - money that could be diverted to cover the cost of books and school supplies. Moreover, the psychological stigma and pressure of not being able to pay would be lifted off the shoulders of the poor and working classes.
But that is the easiest part of education to fix, and the part that was perhaps giving the least trouble. Getting our children into school has not been the biggest problem in education, and that is substantiated by the consistently high enrolment figures of close to 90 per cent.
The statistics also show that those who are unable to pay have been effectively utilising the government's cost-sharing programme. The biggest problem in education has to do with the psychosocial preconditions that exist and the quality of education once the children step into the classrooms.
At the root of the problem is what I call "apartheid in education". It is a system of inequality and differentiation in which our schools are separated into Traditional High Schools on the one hand, and upgraded New Secondary Schools on the other.
The former are largely reserved for the middle and upper classes with a sprinkling here and there of children from the lower socio-economic grouping, and the latter, with an almost 100 per cent attendance of children of the poor and working classes.
The quality of education in the New Secondary Schools is completely consistent with the degrees of separation and inequality. The truth is that the country's so-called upgraded schools have been largely upgraded in name only, and the fundamental problems of pedagogy, classroom size, and the general lack of resources, not to mention that many of them are located in war zones, continue to entrench the disadvantaged position in which these schools are forced to operate.
Somebody needs to tell our politicians that free tuition is of little use if more and more of our children are becoming "uneducable", not because of any deficiencies in their cognitive abilities, but because of the social and economic problems they face day in and day out. What's the point of heralding free tuition when children can't go to school because of ongoing violence around them, or having to spend teaching time under their desks as gunshots sail through the school buildings?
What's the point of free tuition when children can't attend school regularly because they don't have bus fare and lunch money? What's the point of free tuition when children have no hope and see no value in education? What's the point of free tuition when we are turning out criminals and illiterates by the scores?
Let me state my position as clearly as I can. I am in support of anything that will lift the burden off the poor, but our education problem is much more than free tuition, and until we deal with problems of parenting, unemployment, and crime and violence, among others, the job of educating our children will become more and more difficult, even when the price tag is removed from the doors of our schools.
With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com
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