Gordon Robinson | It’s a miseducation emergency

So, debate on Jamaica’s education is the latest piece of evidence supporting the conclusion JLP and PNP are about as different as six and half-a-dozen.

After Government’s abysmally slow refurbishing of hurricane damaged schools became public, PNP took its turn at bat. Education Ministry’s “visits” to still damaged schools; promises of “close oversight” and paper pushing; and admission that only 57 schools’ repairs were complete, led PNP’s Education Spokesman to gleefully criticize Government for focusing on “only seriously damaged schools” in an effort to “mitigate against their failure”.

Sigh.

If 300+ schools are damaged and Government’s fiscal resources are limited, what’s wrong with focusing first on those most seriously damaged? On what would PNP have focused? How on earth can attention to the most damaged schools “mitigate against failure”? Failure to do what? Fix every school? Using what money? Focusing on the most affected mitigates loss not failure.

Not to be left out, Markie G weighed in at length asserting that only 57 schools completed proved no sensible plan was in place.

No. It proves 57 schools’ repairs were completed. You might want to show more than an interim result to establish the plan wasn’t sensible. Did Government promise every school would be ready for September 2027? If not what was the plan? Does Mark even know what it is he’s calling nonsensical?

That only 57 schools are completed is proof of the scale of devastation; overwhelming extent of the rebuilding task; scarcity of grade one contractors; and, perhaps, ineptitude or mismanagement of some repair work. By itself it says nothing about plans.

Then Markie G delivered himself of this bumbling buffoonery:

“Why was JDF and its engineering corps not fully integrated into the process? Why were the master builders and engineers of Jamaica not asked, out of a sense of civic duty, to help in the call for sorting out the problem that this hurricane left behind?”

Civic duty? Markie G, did you, out of a sense of civic duty, volunteer your legal or finance skills to help “sort out the problem” (whatever that means) during the recovery effort? You do grasp that engineers and master builders have actual businesses to run and expenses, including government taxes, to pay? How would Government convince them to drive their businesses into bankruptcy while “sorting out the problem”? Again, do you know they didn’t help? Or weren’t asked?

Somebody must be high!

Then we are fed the image of JDF Engineers in barracks, feet up or playing dominoes, while schools’ repairs lag behind schedule.

In fact the Engineer Regiment was heavily deployed across Jamaica for humanitarian and disaster relief operations as the primary engineering spearhead for national recovery. For example:

• Immediately after Melissa JDF engineers deployed heavy machinery to clear blocked roads;

• The regiment shifted from emergency clearing to long-term reconstruction, actively repairing damaged roofs, schools, and health facilities in hard-hit communities;

• In St. Elizabeth, the regiment partnered with humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse to clear debris and prepare grounds at Black River High School to erect a comprehensive Field Hospital;

• With Labour and Social Security Ministry, troops established regional Aid Distribution Points in Clarendon and Manchester to safely funnel food, water, and building supplies directly to vulnerable citizens.

• JDF maintained national relief warehouses on behalf of ODPEM, managing 22 disaster relief outposts and coordinating hundreds of air and ground supply missions.

Sometimes it’s best not to speak just to be heard. If Markie G had tried paying attention in Melissa’s aftermath he’d know JDF engineers did help with school repairs but also had a zillion other emergency matters requiring their specialist attention.

Then came my personal favourite:

Mark: “All we hear from Government is that there’re not enough grade-one contractors; it’s a planning failure of the Government.”

Fact: there aren’t enough grade one contractors to handle the after effects of a category 5 hurricane. How’s that Government’s fault? Should Government import Grade 1 contractors and keep them on standby every year just in case? Or should Government have imported grade one contractors after the event despite unavailability for myriad reasons? Does Mark think Grade one Contractors fall like manna from heaven?

Mark wants a timetable for full completion (already given by Kasan Troupe) and, meanwhile, minimum standards in place for classrooms. His definition of “minimum standards” for temporary classrooms sounded like full completion to me.

“Things like proper flooring, ventilation, shading, fans and portable cooling units where needed, and we need an inspection and reporting regime.”

So he also called for paper pushing “monitoring” (already promised by Dana Dixon). PNP Deputy Education Spokesperson, reveling in her five minutes of fame, repeated what Mark said about temporary classrooms.

I’m so sick and tired of political leaders’ banal baying at the moon producing persistent polytricks whilst real issues are ignored. Why are politicians yapping endlessly about school repairs? Is it because it’s low hanging fruit that allows them to distract us from the real problem and their own cluelessness regarding solutions?

Whether or not we’ve state of the art classrooms, fully air-conditioned; modernized labs; and pristine playfields, we’ll still have an ancient, creaking, obsolete education system. However we house our students, the question is what’ll we teach them? And how?

Why do you take so long to understand?

I tell you this, that when I am here this is near

and if I run away and go a way back here

where you can hardly hear me this is far.

Wow! We’re on Sesame Street!

Are we going to continue only teaching youngsters how to solve math puzzles when Artificial Intelligence (AI) has already created tools to do it for us? Will any student graduate from Grade11 with a comprehensive understanding of AI and its impact on civilization?

Will music, the best teacher of discipline, logic and structure, be compulsory in our secondary schools? Will our students be taught Jamaica’s system of Governance, its history; and comparisons with other governance systems?

Will we teach philosophy, which is nothing more than how to think clearly? Or will we continue teaching by rote followed by regurgitation on written exams that some of the most brilliant won’t be able to pass due to “nerves”?

On November 10, 1969, a new concept in children’s TV was introduced by USA’s National Educational Television Network, later PBS. It was called Sesame Street. Its method of teaching children spatial concepts and reading were sensationally unique. Before long popular DJ David “Scotty” Scott was in the studio riding Derrick Harriott’s “I was Born a Loser” rhythm to produce a monster hit inspired by that show.

And what about our teachers? Will we commit to ensuring they’re treated as Jamaica’s most important public servants? Will we train them (to Master’s level or higher) and pay them accordingly? Or will we continue to accept less than qualified, inadequately trained teachers incapable of addressing modern student needs?

La Sonja Harrison warned two Thursdays ago: “Jamaica has an education emergency, but we have not yet named it.” She spoke of a literacy and numeracy crisis in schools. Why are we polytricking over building repairs which will be completed sooner or later when some graduates can’t read? Why are we holding press conferences to play political football with school repairs when too many graduates are unprepared for the working world?

Don’t worry, La Sonja, I’ll name it. We have a miseducation emergency! We aren’t educating our teachers to teach and our teachers aren’t educating our children to function in life. Politicians want to govern but they don’t want to produce voters who can discern sense from nonsense. They want us undereducated. Their life’s purpose is to beg, borrow, buy or steal votes NOT to fix or reform anything. They’re happy with the status quo. They only want to ensure they remain head quo in the status.

When I was a child, all fairytales began with “Once upon a time…..” Now too many begin with “If I am elected…”

Peace and Love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com