by John F. Hedden
This past week of events highlighted by the very vocal and visual reaction of students (COBUS) at the College of the Bahamas, has shown the deplorable state of our country and the ineptitude of of our politicians to come out with a definitive strategy to improve the status of Bahamians, especially that of the youth.
COBUS has demonstrated their dissatisfaction with the status quo, and the demand for improved opportunities in education, and the poor state of finances of the average Bahamian in our society. It is essential that the young must be able to participate in development and growth towards a mature society.
This has been supported by previous statements in the press by Olivia Saunders, NG 04/01/13, calling for a full University Status for the College; Dame Ivy Dumont, TR 12/02/13 exposing the exploitation of a dependent consumer on the poor service offered by our essential utilities; and Arinthia Komolafe, NG 12/02/13, in her call for increased opportunities for the ordinary Bahamian to actively participate in the country's growth and development.
Forty years after majority rule Bahamians are still dependent on a poor public educational system that equips school leavers to employment in the most basic subservience to a foreign led investment strategy where the political elite makes arbitrary decisions that do not foster genuine home grown ideas that benefit the welfare of Bahamians. The leadership demonstrated by business and religious institutions only highlights this trend.
The result is a populace totally dependent, and unable to rise to a level of self determination necessary for the mature development of our society.
On the surface our high GDP indicates a wealthy country that benefits its people. In fact the reality presents a different picture where the wealth is transferred laterally across the top professional levels of medical, financial, and law practitioners with very little filtering down to the mass of the population. The present recession has shown the inability of the ordinary Bahamian to survive without the vagaries of reliance on foreign investment. As a result many have lost their whole investment and future, with no chance of restitution.
Real opportunities for the youth to fully develop into mature and independent individuals do not exist, this being expressed by the increasing number of our youth who seek employment abroad rather than invest their skills in a static and manipulated economy that shows no real growth and development. Many of those that do remain invest their energies in the drug and gang culture where they are afforded some sort of fleeting survival.
The recent proposal of the formation of the Small and Medium size Enterprise Agency (SMEDA), in my opinion, is a clever way of renaming a failed Bahamas Development Bank, that gives no real thought to new strategies for entrepreneurial encouragement and the development of lower turnover businesses into successful ventures.
Education is the key to instituting a qualified and capable work force that has the ability to participate, and contribute to a healthy community where wealth is so much more than the accumulation of material and consumer products. The recent proposals by the government to cut into the education budget for our young people will only magnify the inability of the young to accede to a much better quality of life, with no chance of becoming independent, free thinking individuals, who can contribute to a healthy society.
It is high time that the political class stop playing games in “the sandpit of parliament“, and as a mature leadership direct their energies towards a realistic national development programme where every member of society is able to contribute and so also benefit. Wasteful and frivolous expenditure from the public purse must stop, and investment in essential services must be worked out so that the country as a whole can grow and mature into a strong and stable nation.
I fully support the demands of our youth and call on the government, with all parties and partisans, to re examine their strategies and come up with a long term plan that will benefit all Bahamians.
As Ms Komolafe so ably postulated, "The youth have come looking for the Bahamas".
Sincerely
J F Hedden
Abaco, Bahamas
February 23, 2013
Thank you for your contribution. On 21-Sep-2012, I posted the following Blog that drew a surprising response:
http://www.weblogbahamas.com/blog_bahamas/2012/09/why-the-bahamas-like-all-developing-countries-urgently-needs-higher-education.html
If we want ‘paralysis-by-analysis’ on what is a ‘No-Brainer’ for our country, let us keep up the talk about a University and take no action. In this event, defintely we will win ‘the race to the bottom’ of which we seem so keen on being a part. We talk of a new Parliament Building when we still do not have a full-fledged tertiary institution in the country. Mon Dieu, Incroyable!
Where has government education gotten the system to date?
I cannot put my faith in them to allow the freedom necessary.
Why not a private university?
Hi Rick
Answer to Q1; not far.
Answer to Q2: (with a question, sorry) Why not?
But a Government should take the lead in this most important of endeavours because education should be part of a long-term national development vision, as the Blogger rightly implies. We like to compare ourselves with Singapore and Finland, but these two countries were ‘led from the top’.
By the way, I welcomed the arrival of Ross University several years ago in Freeport but we need more Higher Education Instituions and we certainly need one in The Bahamas by Bahamians for Bahamians!
Hi S3S,
“Not far” but we want them to do more of the same?
“Why not” let them lead? Refer to Answer to Q1.
If Britain said in Britain, by Brits for Brits, where would many of us be today?
Whatever happened to comparative advantage?
Hi Rick, I really do hope that we are not at cross purposes here because I am certain we both want the same thing: a better Bahamas for us all.
Britain, and indeed most of Europe, have survived their higher education challenges, having started on this road more than 1,000 years ago, so not the most appropriate comparator. Given that you mention her, challenges have included who would be allowed in (or to put it another way, who were these learning institutions for?). Only recently, have private universities made in-roads into British Higher Education, which has about seven private universities in total with a few vying for charter (c.f. Bangladesh, which has 29 private universities).
I am not against privatisation of HE but I think that we are in such a nascent state with regard to this critical issue that it must be guided by a national vision. We are not at a point of considering comparative advantage just yet. We might consider to what extent has the arrival of Ross University increased higher educational opportunities for Bahamians …..
By the way, please see below an excerpt from a speech last year by Prime Minister Lee Hsien of Singapore, a country to which we enjoy comparing ourselves:
PM Lee highlights ‘Hope, Heart, and Home’ in National Day Rally
Sun, Aug 26, 2012
HOPE
Education – from pre-school to university – was another main focus of PM Lee’s National Day Rally, as he laid out a series of plans with significant long-term impacts on Singapore’s education system.
The first major change was to turn the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and private institution UniSIM into Singapore’s fifth and sixth universities, allowing SIT to expand places and award degrees in its own name. He said the focus would be on applied degrees for practical employment opportunities and jobs in demand such as engineers, therapists and social workers.
The change would increase in the number of university places by 2020, from 13,000 university admissions per year now to 16,000.
This will mean that 40 per cent of each cohort makes it to university, a huge jump from 27 per cent today.
“I hope that Singaporeans will take advantage of this – not just to collect a piece of paper, but develop themselves, learn something useful, and make a contribution to society,” said PM Lee.
Excerpted from: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/pm-lee–making-singapore-our-hope–heart–and-home-.html
Glowing words indeed, but we are on opposite sides of this fence.
We are not talking about Singaporeans here either.
Also, what is a national vision?
Rick, if your question is a serious one, then I’ll answer by giving you my definition (cobbled together from others) and then by directing you to the best ‘national vision’ I’ve seen recently.
Essentially, a national vision is a realistic, credible, attractive future for a nation based on how its leaders see it being over the long term which makes it strategic because it is not less than 20 years but may be as many as 50 years.
A vision must be realistic to be meaningful for a country and its citizens (e.g. a Leader cannot tell us that we will aspire to be in the ‘first world’ when its definition precludes such a possibility).
It must be ‘credible’ to the citizens because they are the ones who will ensure that the vision is realised (usually well after the leaders have gone).
A vision must also be ‘attractive’ in order to inspire and motivate citizens, who can feel a part of the future scenario envisioned for the country.
Finally, a vision must be set well into the future for at least two reasons: first, to give the country time to work toward achieving it; and second, realisation of a vision often depends on external factors happening. This is because a vision is not where a country is now (God forbid, our current state is not one that we should want to persist) but where it wants to be in the future.
Qatar, which has achieved wealth beyond its wildest imaginations over the past few decades, has published a vision, which is worth a read:
http://www.gsdp.gov.qa/portal/page/portal/gsdp_en/qatar_national_vision/qnv_2030_document/QNV2030_English_v2.pdf
Thanks S3S, I was kidding of course, but our Government does not even have a vision of achieving its basic requirements/functions and they are also too busy trying to run people’s lives to expect them to aspire to a grand vision where personal responsibility is important to success.
Just the opening alone is a lot of BS, S3S.
Case in point:
“Qatar National Vision 2030 builds a bridge between the present and the future. It envisages a vibrant and prosperous country in which there is economic and social justice for all, and in which nature and man are in harmony. We need to galvanize our collective energies and direct them toward these aspirations. Strong Islamic and family values will provide our moral and ethical compass.”
Phrases like economic and social justice for all turn my stomach. because it’s impossible.