Minister of Education (Minister of Education)

The future of Jamaica starts today, specifically with the education of the country’s youth. What positive developments are you seeing in the island’s educational system?

We have done well for ourselves at the secondary level. In the two generations after independence around 10% of our secondary level population (junior high and high school) was able to have a secondary education. Now it’s 100%. Jamaica invests 30% of its recurrent budget into education. In fact we invest more in education in terms of percentage of GDP (per capita) from the public purse than any other country in the Americas except Cuba. We also have no issue regarding gender. In fact women are ahead and our boys are lagging behind so we have a reversal of the gender gap if anything. The glass ceiling is fractured as far as women are concerned.

In terms of tertiary education, more and more students from the first quintile, the lowest quintile of the economy, are qualifying for this, which is a problem we like to have. I’m a politician and I represent the inner city, which probably has 70% unemployment. But I have 15% of students this year, and I think 25% of next year’s students, whose parents can’t read and write, getting into medical, law and engineering school.

What needs to be done to improve the Jamaican education system?

Generally speaking, we have to transform the education system from being interior looking to outward looking both in terms of creating skills that the world needs, that Jamaica can be a repository of and that can assist our own internal development. We know, for example, that hundreds of thousands of nurses are needed in the United States of America (USA), and that surveys indicate that Caribbean nurses are preferred over those from Mexico and the Philippines because of their training and personality, so we need to discuss whether we can train these nurses. Given 80% of our nurses migrate, we need to make a structured arrangement that has proper financial responsibilities and is responsive to our needs rather than just being a poaching of our best graduates.

What specifically is being done to develop the educational system in Jamaica?

We are involved in a process of transformation. First of all we are emphasizing early childhood education in a brand new way. One generation or two ago early childhood was considered to be an optional extra but science has told us that that isn’t working. We’ve had the wrong concept of what you do in early childhood as some people think you learn timetables and learn to read. You don’t, rather you learn play, cooperation and the postponement of gratification. You learn the love of learning as well as numbers and shapes. Then when you go to primary school that is the escalator of particular competencies.

We are also emphasizing the need for trained teachers in early childhood. We only have 30% of our teachers trained but I am hoping that by 2017 we have a trained teacher in every early childhood institution. We’re moving from about 3% of our education budget in early childhood and special education to 14% this year and we need to go to 20%. We also have tremendous private sector support both in diaspora and locally for a common curriculum and materials, which has never been the case in the early childhood.

We are also addressing the issue of nutrition. We know that 30% of our children come to school hungry every day and another 20% occasionally. We are now feeding breakfast and lunch to 138,000 early childhood children everyday, which has never been done before. Parents contribute if they can and if not, the children eat anyway because you cannot compromise on that.

We are also are introducing a new legislation that will govern teachers’ competencies and licensing, which we have never had before. In the meantime we know that some of our teachers aren’t cutting it so we are putting expert coaches in the weakest schools (300 out of 1000) in a hope to spur literacy and numeracy. It’s expensive but we don’t have a choice and it’s working.

We are also uncompromising about adequate standards of literacy and numeracy at grade four, aged eight. Two thirds of our children are a little higher than average in literacy and numeracy so we have a gap. We are setting ourselves timelines and making investments, which in some cases are supported externally. USAID, for example, is helping us with literacy coaches as we have a huge deficit in mathematics education because our teachers aren’t trained in that. So we have set ourselves targets for universal achievement of mastery in English and mathematics at grade four.

Another important innovation is that we are expanding greatly our post-secondary education apprenticeship program to create a nexus between education and industry, commerce and services. We are seeing good initial success. This is based on the notion that you establish competency not by sitting a Oxford or Cambridge-certified exam, but by going out into industry and learning, reporting on what you are doing and adding value. That’s a deficit in the third world especially countries with our kind of history. The notion of entitlement has to be replaced by the principle of adding value. No one has tenure or a right to anything except your life and fair treatment unless you are adding value. This applies to me also as I have to add value. That is the modern world and the fast train that Jamaica has to be on to sustain all of the hopes that people have for us and the wow factor that comes from our athletes and culture. We punch way beyond our size in the world and we deserve and need to escalate that.

In our high schools, in addition to creating more spaces and improving access to good teaching, we are shifting towards “steam”: science, technology, engineering, arts, math. We are setting a rule that by 2017 no student will be able to leave to graduate from high school without a certification in English, math and at least one employable skill, for example, IT, home economics and welding. We insist that there must be a novel connectivity between the world of education and the economy and society at large.

The United Nations and ILO tell us that 80% of employment in this century is going to have to be small business so we are also engaged in the Junior Achievement program. This educates students about work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs rather than the rigidity of a curriculum of the past.

70% of Jamaica’s workforce has no certification so we have to reduce that. We’re looking at a program for 25,000 unattached youth, whereby we will take them for six months, give them resocialization because they have many unproductive attitudes, provide them with some skills training and make sure that their literacy and numeracy is up to standard. We’re investing a lot into this and will invest $1 billion more this year on it.

How are you working with private sector to improve education in Jamaica?

We have strong links with the private sector. The Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ) is very helpful. Hon. Oliver Clarke, Chairman and Managing Director of The Gleaner Company Limited, volunteered to lead a private sector committee in order to help education, which has never happened before. They give us enormous support, uplift and the kind of constructive criticism that makes all the difference. Private sector involvement is an essential part of the preparation for work. Work is the basis of growth and growth is the basis of prosperity. Education makes you trainable. Training makes you employable, employment makes you productive and productivity makes you prosperous. That’s the continuum that I work on.

How can private sector get involved in education?

I encourage private sector investment in education. If the hotels, for example, want to set up a training school, that’s wonderful. We are offering services in education now to the Caribbean, which are earning foreign exchange. Many private sector companies extend their brand by taking out early childhood education for example. Jamaican company Carimed, for instance, has done so much in starting and running basic schools. I would rather our workforce colleges be operated by the private sector rather than us. We want, for example, to pay, and offer a tax rebate to, a furniture manufacturer to work with trainees. This way he could see profits but also a social opportunity.

Do you work with JAMPRO to promote educational opportunities for foreign investors?

We do but not as seamlessly as we want to. JAMPRO’s most recent success has been in promoting medical education in Jamaica and having the University of the West Indies’ medical school certified by the American accreditation board. American students who want to come and study here can now engage federal assistance and receive certification.

In the area of logistics, Canada wants 300 skilled Jamaicans each month for their provinces. They want “red seal,” which is the technical certification for logistics, for example, for heavy equipment operators, trailer drivers and crane operators. They require this approval for whatever discipline they need people in so we are saying give us the specifications and we will have the people for you.

How do these changes sit with the opposition?

I make sure that the opposition knows about, and is on board with, everything in the new thrust of education. 700,000 Jamaicans fall under the responsibility of this ministry so we have a trust that is beyond any personal or group concern to make sure that they have a better life.

As you know, the readers of Harvard Business Review include many of the world’s most influential business and political leaders. What message would you like to leave them?

Vera Rubin, the American anthropologist from Columbia University, wrote a book about the Caribbean and entitled it “We Wished To Be Looked Upon.” If that was a phrase, Jamaica wishes to be looked upon. Come, see what we have and get to know us, or can we come to you and let us know you. I think you will find that there’s an adaptability, a zest and Obama used the world ‘vibe.’ We’re good people to be with and we are as bright as anywhere in the world.