THE first Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Nobel Prize-winning Laureate for Economics Sir Arthur Lewis, left a famous quote: ‘The fundamental cure for poverty is knowledge.’ In other words, education is worth more than money, as also observed, much earlier, by Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, who said: ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’
Both quotations translate today to mean education is an essential public duty, responsibility and service owed to every citizen – in which case, it should really be free. But not many countries can afford it.
Schools opened across the Caribbean this week with mixed experiences, as populations adjusted to the first school year starting without COVID protocols since 2020. Principals and teachers, students and parents, all breathed long sighs of relief for the return to face-to-face classes. But inequalities still prevail in approaches to and reforming education across the region.
There’s much to shout about, like increasing university opportunities, wider choices of subjects and growing pass-rates, but there’s also much still requiring more attention at similar and different levels to respond to the new challenges and those still to come.
The concept of providing education ‘From Cradle To Grave’ is another noble idea, but experience has also shown it’s easier to wish than achieve, as sheer and climbing costs have resulted in imbalances in achievements, based purely on inability to afford.
Caribbean parents have always valued providing the best education for their children, countless families silently suffering being condemned to the periphery of poverty as they scrape to earn the cost of proudly sending their sons and daughters to study overseas (mindless of and careless about the never-ending Brain Drain and its effects on planning future national development).
Education costs is indeed a global factor the Biden administration recently decided face head-on by cutting student loan debts for 20 million Americans owing private ‘for-profit’ educational institutions – and with another 23 million still waiting and praying for similar relief.
Among the 43 million Americans owing US$1.6 trillion in student loans today, 40 per cent don’t have a diploma because, as being admitted by US political authorities, the education system doesn’t create jobs. The result: the final bailout for all, over the next 10 years, will cost US taxpayers between $240 Billion (official estimates) and $600 Billion (non-government projections).
Same in Europe, where governments were already facing the perils of outstanding student loans costs before COVID and the Ukraine War and too many parents can no longer afford the cost of student meals, with households facing 400 per cent increases in energy bills as governments face record inflation and predictions of recession, ahead of perhaps the coldest winter the continent will ever experience.
Caribbean nations should urgently revisit education systems to keep-up with the new challenges posed by the necessity of encouraging retention of best brains and innovative minds through engagement and deployment, with real possibilities of turning dreams and hobbies into actual employment and job-creation opportunities.
Given the ultimate roles of today’s youth tomorrow, ongoing conditions must be created to tailor their minds to suit not only taking-up their roles at home today, but also preparing for tomorrow — and not by yesterday’s or yesteryear’s standards, but by today’s and tomorrow’s.
Caribbean governments, with or without resources at this time, have to look far and dig deep to create economic miracles to ensure people’s access to affordable food, shelter and education because, even in cases where more is available, it’s never enough to touch everyone at the same time.
