Education cannot thrive on empty promises

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Norman Manley once said: “I say the mission of my generation is to make Jamaica in the image of our own dreams, for our children to inherit and for us to be proud of.” Today, whose dreams are we building? Because the reality in our classrooms tells a story far different from the glossy political speeches.

Each year, governments announce pilot programmes full of promise, literacy drives, technology rollouts, new teaching methods and yet, year after year, there is no continuity, no sustainability, and no lasting change. The initiatives fizzle out like fireworks after Independence Day, and we are left facing the same problems we started with.

Teachers, the very people tasked with shaping the minds of the next generation, are too often treated as expendable, underpaid, and undervalued. It is shameful that the Jamaica Teachers’ Association must fight tooth and nail for fair compensation, while the profession is burdened with overcrowded classrooms of 50 students to one teacher, schools without staff rooms, canteens without proper equipment, and limited resources and supplies for teachers to execute their lessons effectively. This is not just neglect, it is national hypocrisy. We cannot keep telling our children that education is the key while refusing to oil the lock.

Announcements are not action. Numbers on a checklist are not impact. Until we have a government that truly invests in education with the long-term vision to follow through, not just for headlines but for real, measurable results, we will keep spinning our wheels in the mud of mediocrity.

As we prepare to vote, let us remember:

• We need leaders who serve the people in humility, not themselves in arrogance.

• We need leadership with integrity, not self-praise.

• We also need citizens to rise from the sidelines and take their seat at the decision-making table.

Jamaica’s children cannot wait for another five-year cycle of promises without delivery. If our leaders cannot see that the future of this nation sits in a classroom today, then perhaps they are not fit to lead tomorrow.

ROCHINA ANDERSON