Ronald Thwaites | Saving ourselves

Prime Minister Holness made a good speech at the opening of the Alpha Mercy Historical Centre on August 18. He acknowledged that, long before state intervention in mass social welfare, churches and groups like the Sisters of Mercy provided education, healthcare and social uplift, as well as good values and attitudes, to vulnerable Jamaicans.

The education-invested churches and trusts continue to do so in a partnership with the State, which deserves respect and is currently in need of review and upgrading. It is a shame that, despite Andrew’s sincerity, the consistent efforts of the church-owned schools to begin improving their engagement in education have been ignored by the authorities. He can correct that.

Mr Holness insisted that the exceptional achievements of individual top performers, which we delight in confusing with broad excellence, must become the possibility for everyone. It can’t be just that a few of us do well. Valuing the worth and talent of each Jamaican is what people and institutions of faith like the Sisters of Mercy purport to do.

This cause has to become the tone and texture of every aspect of our culture. We need to deepen a praxis of service as the highest expression of ‘Jamaican-ness’. It is good to hear the prime minister acknowledge this and for government to invest in ventures like the Historical Museum, where other generations can be convinced of this life purpose.

In time, the Alpha Boys’ School, the cradle of most Jamaican genres of music, already partly prepared for the purpose, should become the site of a National Museum of Music.

UNDERUSED STRENGTH

Face facts! Close to half of all public schools are owned or sponsored by churches and trusts. No government could ever repay the capital invested by people of faith in the uplift of our population.

Holness gets it but, as in so many other areas of national life where reform is obviously needed and affordable, he can do little on his own to bring about change.

The former minister of education knows about the waste of billions on unused textbooks happening right now. He knows the sin of once again promoting tens of thousands of children to higher grades in two weeks’ time, when they are illiterate and innumerate.

Massive waste persists largely because no prime minister has the power to turbocharge the structural change of the education apparatus.

Similarly, Andrew spoke so persuasively to the permanent secretaries last week about the need to raise the productivity of the public bureaucracy. He must know that, with the civil service orders unchanged, there is little chance of the surge of efficiency which he desires and the country needs.

Just look at how, despite having the money, Dana is rightly distressed at the slow pace of school repair. If the majority of schools badly damaged a year ago have compromised re-openings next month, that is going to place a blight on the futures of innocent youth. The system does not allow space for catch-up.

DELUDING OURSELVES

It’s not a money problem. Our structures of governance cannot deliver what the people need. This is the truth which we will not allow ourselves to confront because to do so would prove political inadequacy and puncture our bloated pride.

And, by the way, while the character and competence of those who delude us can make a great difference, Mark Golding will face the same conundrum as Andrew when it is his turn. So will every other leader until we are brave, humble and thorough enough to unite to change our self-imposed deficiencies, just as we found common cause to oppose the juggernaut of colonialism several generations ago.

If we insisted that the parties work together, certainly on big issues like public-sector reform, education and land reform, I am convinced things would begin to be different and better.

EXAM RESULTS

Every improvement in our CSEC and CAPE examination passes is to be commended. But, how many of those passes are at CSEC Grade 3 or CAPE Level 4? These are generally not matriculable standards and, even when grudgingly accepted, the weakness shows up at tertiary levels and in the workplace.

That the recently released results show Jamaican students doing marginally better than other Caribbean territories is small cause for celebration. First-World, not regional, standards must be our point of comparison. It is in the arenas with Cuba, Finland, Singapore and South Korea that we have to compete for investment and employment.

A recent study disclosed that 30 per cent of US adults possessed literacy skills typically associated with 10-year-olds. Shocking as that is, because of their military and economic dominance, the US can borrow US$40 trillion and plenty more from the rest of the world, with no pressure to repay. We can’t.

Mr Holness urged his Alpha audience to get serious about cultivating the abounding talent of our people and fostering a spirit of caring and sharing.

CONSEQUENCES

Because that crusade is yet to happen, we find ourselves grinning, awkward and compromised, beside a ‘Secretary of War’, numbered among those who pledge to “do bad things to bad men” at his bidding, without due process, the antithesis of our Constitution.

We are co-opted into the hegemonic renaissance of the very Monroe Doctrine which our nationalist-independence struggle resisted.

When you can’t unite around basic causes, pay your way, feed yourself, educate and socialise all your people to the standards of broad excellence which Mr Holness spoke about at Alpha, then the land-massa man will soon come for our yard. More of us will resemble the forever squatters of Coopers Pen.

Rev Ronald G. Thwaites is an attorney-at-law. He is former member of parliament for Kingston Central and was the minister of education. He is the principal of St Michael’s College at The UWI. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.