[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n an appearance on TALK with Rick Wayne late last year Prime Minister Allen Chastanet cited figures that to some were shocking. Several weeks later, at a House meeting on 13 February, 2018, the prime minister revisited the issue: “I stated on a show that 43 per cent of our young men had not received more than a pre-school education. It would have been a simple matter to correct myself the next day. Instead I waited to see how my critics would go before they decided the bigger issue was not that I had misspoken but that 43 per cent of young men in our country only had a primary school education. Nothing to shout about. As far as I am concerned, what I said in December and then in February are just as bad, effectively.”
He noted in parliament that 40 per cent of our young females only attended primary school; additionally, that 33 per cent of men and 35 per cent of women had a secondary school education. What should have concerned the prime minister’s detractors was not so much that he had mistated a horrifying truth but that there was something very wrong with our education system that needed urgently to be addressed.
At the recalled meeting in February, Prime Minister Chastanet took the opportunity to appeal to the opposition yet again “not to play politics with our people’s education”. He called for a meeting of minds. “When are we going to put the young people of our country first?” he asked. “When are we going to understand that they are the future of our country? When will we learn to put them before our politics?”
Recently Dr. Gale Rigobert, the Minister for Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development, announced on Newsmaker Live that her ministry was already in the process of reforming the curriculum in order to ensure we remain in tandem with, or ahead of, the pack when it comes to the demands of the modern world.
The government has maintained that education is a basic human right and is a fundamental ingredient for tackling the problems of poverty and the foundation for achieving the wider political, economic, cultural and social goals that we have set for our country. To cite the government’s party manifesto: “Our young men and women need to be prepared for a future characterised by continuous change, where technologies are being replaced at a rapid pace, for a future of intense competition and shifting competitive advantage. To prepare students to participate meaningfully in this new global environment, our institutions of learning must themselves embrace change and keep looking for ways to improve and remain relevant.”
Upon taking office in June 2016, the government restored the school bus subsidy programme and began plans to expand the school feeding programme. This meant assistance for parents in covering the cost of their children’s transportation and meals.
A review of the structure of our schools is underway, as are plans to establish a School for Athletes and a School of Arts and Culture. The government is also working on the modernising and re-structuring of the curriculum unit to become the focal point for curriculum innovation, development and implementation.
The prime minister has come out and given us the figures regarding the education of our workforce and it is essential that we look at the bigger picture. Many of the problems confronting citizens of this country have, at their core, a need for better and more relevant education. We have little choice but to put our heads together in the best interest of our country’s future. After all, a country has no tomorrow to look forward to if its young people are uneducated or behind bars. We must put first the needs of our future leaders!
