Rick Lowe
When I read that Mr. Perry Christie, leader of the Opposition PLP said they “have been calling for the nation to double our investment in education and training” I knew I would have to dig a little below the surface.
When we do, we learn for example that in the eight years of government budgets from 2004/2005 to 2011/2012 the country has spent almost $2 billion on education. This includes funds spent on, The Department of Education, The Ministry of Education, The College of The Bahamas, The Bahamas Vocational Technical Institute, The Simpson Penn Centre for Boys, The Willamae Pratt Centre for Girls and The Department of Archives.
In 2012 spending on education totalled $276.2 Million for 16.42% of the governments total budget of $1.7 Billion.
So how does this compare with other countries in the world? Believe it or not, when compared to the USA, Sweden, Canada, China and Japan, The Bahamas ranks second in expenditure on Education. See chart below.
Bearing in mind we do not know exactly what other nations have included as educational expenditures, if we compare the spending on The Department of Education, The Ministry of Education, The College of The Bahamas, The Bahamas Vocational Technical Institute alone, we’d still rank second at 16.1% of spending.
Based on the raw numbers, spending is obviously not the problem as we rank 8th when compared to 27 other countries in the world as shown below.
The questions the Opposition should be posing are:
- Why is the country not getting value for money in education?
- Why are the average grades D-?
- Who is responsible for the poor performance? and
- How do we begin to get value for money?
To suggest doubling the budget will help improve education for our children is not worth the paper the newspaper article was written on.
If you have a few minutes read on for an interesting interactive article comparing how countries spend their money on Health, Education and Military. Click on the image below to visit the web site for much more detail.
While you have a point, you fail to analyse.
1. Percentage of National Budget is no real measure. A four-person household with a $20,000 budget may spend 50% on education, and still get less than a four-person household on a $100,000 budget spending 25% on education.
2. The poorer household may have two school-age children, the richer household may one have one school-age child.
3. Better comparison would be money spent per student, adjusted for PPP or cost of living.
4. We need to look where in the system the money is being spent. Me thinks we will find a discrepancy between top level (MoE Management) and bottom (teachers). It cannot be denied that our teachers, compared with countries that do better in education, are underpaid. Many are also underqualified. However, how are you going to attract better qualified people to this crucial profession?
5. As far as I can see, our schools need more funds IN SOME AREAS. Physical plant is lousy, student/teacher ratio is, as far as I can see, also nothing to brag about. You may be right that the moneys spent on education must be spent more wisely, but you don’t demonstrate that.
6. Language: Comparison needs to take into consideration, how many students are able to effectively communicate in the language of instruction when entering the system. This is not a cheap shot at immigrant, but is directed at Bahamians, too.
Does Sodom and Gomorrah ring any bells?
Seriously, as a society we have so many ills it is little wonder we are where we are, and continue to slide.
How can we “fix” education when all else is broken also? No one aspect of society can be “fixed” in short order especially if we refuse to recognize the problem.
We Ignore the truth about ourselves at our own peril.
yes, we have some Noble people we can claim as our own, yes, there are a few decent Civil servants quietly holding a desk,
but,
By and large we remain silent, docile and apparently willing to lose everything including our lives, and stand by and watch as others lose theirs.
We reap what we have sown.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
You are correct, there are many variables and I point out that I am just comparing raw numbers.
However, I think that’s why it’s important to conduct a cost benefit analysis on what we are actually doing and how we should proceed to correct it.
Of course I think implementing Charter Schools would be a good start.
But to simply state that education spending should be doubled is shall we say a little off the wall?
Why do our politicians always think that throwing more money at a problem will fix the problem in question?? It has not worked in preventing crime and it will never work in fixing education.. It kinds of reminds me of the old adage, “you can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”.. The same can be said about young children, you can require children to attend school but you can’t make them learn..
Someday, I hope our politicians will realize that money is not the answer to improving education.. The real answer may be found in the poor attitude and lack of positive values in our children.. Here is where changed is drastically needed.. Children who do not care about learning and self-improvement will have little change in being successful in school and even in later life.. What is needed now are programs in our elementary schools that will address and encourage the development of positive values and cultivate a growing sense of self-esteem in our young students.. For without these important character traits, children will eventually give up, think that school is a waste of time and drop out.. All the money in the country cannot fix our failing education system, but what will work are the introduction of programs where children are taught to recognize that they are not only special but are unique individuals and can develop positive attitudes towards learning, education and life itself.. This must be the top priority at the highest level in government if it is to succeed so that every child in our school system deserves the chance to be special..
It is just right for the government to budget more on education. We need to invest more on educating children. We need to invest in order to live a sustainable life.
Sounds lovely in principle.
In reality we need value for money.
Also, government funding comes from taxpayers. Should we all pay more taxes?
Swoope Desimone, read my commentary carefully and you will see the no one is really against funding for education, but throwing more and more money into education just does not produce the desired results in learning achievement.. This approach has never worked in the United States or in the United Kingdom.. At the rate we are going, our children will never live a sustainable life as you pointed out.. Lets face it, children must WANT to learn and not be FORCED to learn.. More money is not the answer but a change in attitude of our younger students may be the missing ingredient needed to improve the performance of our school children.. Much of the fault may be found in our children and not in the system we are so often quick to criticize..