It is, therefore, necessary to examine the grounds upon which the proponents of free education base their argument, using as lenses two definitions as to what education is or should be.

Definition 1: The process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind, character, etc,. especially by formal schooling, teaching, training.

Definition 2: Formal schooling at an institution of learning.

Definition 1 states the scope of education – the mind, skill, character, knowledge. These requirements reach back into the home, the child’s environment, the child’s role models, the relationship between parents as seen by the child, and between the parents and the child, family values, among other things.

Formal schooling

The second definition is confined to the process of formal schooling at an institution, and would seem to be the basis of the free education proposals. The first definition starts at the home and the second at the school gate.

Thus, the child who satisfies definition 1 is already ahead of the other child who fits in at definition 2. The gap between the two is apparent long before the school bell rings, and becomes almost insurmountable by the time the students reach the end of the primary/secondary stages. This explains why so many students can go through all the forms leading up to CSEC examinations without passing a single subject.

Further, does free education give a fair chance to every child when your child goes to Campion and mine to Haile Selassie? Thus, rendering education free, per se, cannot be a solution to the complex problems of education, as many other pertinent factors are ignored.

How can Jamaica afford it

But even accepting this limitation, one has to wonder how can a country in Jamaica’s present economic situation (debt exceeding GDP) afford to dispense with the resources of those who can afford and, hence, throw the full burden on the already inadequate tax revenue to meet the aggregate costs of paying teachers at competitive rates; upgrading the mass of sub-standard schools; restricting class sizes; properly maintaining all school buildings, laboratories and sports facilities; providing adequate water supplies and sanitary conveniences to all schools (rural as well as urban); push forward with deliberate speed appropriate school building and teacher training programmes to ensure that each child (roughly 50,000 annually) can be guaranteed a suitable space in the school system, within as short a time period as possible – say, five years. This is in addition to the high costs of maintaining the University of the West Indies.

Thus, not only should those able to pay be required to pay, not as a punitive burden but as a civic duty. Further, parents who can should help further in supporting and organising school activities, such as concerts, exhibitions, plays and other forms of raising funds to help their schools. Those who cannot meet the full costs/fees should discuss the matter with a parent/teachers committee and endeavour to pay something however small. This is not embarrassment, it is responsibility. The private sector should also be more engaged, even in their own long-term self-interests.

Finally, free education should be an urgent goal but not a pitfall.

I am, etc.,

R.H. ALEXANDER

11 1/2 Temple Meads