Short-changing education

AS TEACHERS, students and parents settle into the routine of a new academic year with all its associated anxiety and anticipation, those closely following the developments will realise that the education sector is severely underfunded.

Despite the political optics and public relations attempts to deflect attention from the blatant neglect of the education system, it was refreshing to hear the minister finally admit the obvious truth.

TTUTA has been resolute and consistent in its call for the authorities to urgently address the issue of recurrent school repairs and the provision of adequate resources. These issues, combined with the problem of staffing shortages at many of the nation’s schools, seriously calls into question the commitment of the Government to quality education.

For the past decade, the facility management arrangements in place for many schools have been consistently deficient and inadequate to the task. The current “school repair programme” only treats emergency situations, with a consequential negative impact on the delivery of quality education.

While many are aware that a large number of schools are old and dilapidated, the problem is exacerbated by the persistent inability/refusal of the authorities to address issues of routine plant maintenance.

This places an undue burden on the shoulders of our principals to ensure that schools remain safe and conducive to teaching and learning. It has forced school officials to divert attention and resources to find creative ways to ensure schools are up to certain modern standards of operation.

Unfortunately, this herculean effort is oftentimes insufficient given the magnitude of the problem, with some school plants falling well below minimum standards of health and safety. When this happens the threat of school closure becomes inevitable, much to the chagrin and consternation of the authorities, despite their abdication of responsibility that precipitated the problem in the first place.

Over the years, the often touted "vacation repair programme" has been steadily diminishing in scope and magnitude, despite the political boasts. Alarm bells have been ringing while schools have been regressing into various states of disrepair, only to be greeted with platitudes and vacuous promises from the authorities.

The "quality education" and "excellence in education" refrains that were once the proud ideals of the Ministry of Education have faded into oblivion, as schools lament the steady decline in funding and resource provision.

Compounding the problem is the severe restrictions placed on schools regarding the solicitation of donations. The resulting conundrum has placed school officials in the proverbial rock-and-a-hard-place dilemma.

It is a known fact that if deteriorating physical facilities are not attended to on a timely basis, the severity of the disrepair progressively increases, costing substantially more in the long term to address.

The failure of the authorities to provide schools with basic furniture for the past decade has seemingly been lost in the scheme of things, with annual promises to provide same having become cliché. School officials are bombarded on a daily basis by both students and parents about the inadequate/dilapidated state of school furniture.

Severely limited funding has precluded principals from addressing this issue, forcing many parents to direct their anger at school officials.

Once again, at the behest of the authorities, principals have made detailed requests for furniture to replace damaged and defective stock, but the familiar silence from the authorities continues to be the order of the day. There is a limit to the extent to which damaged and broken furniture can be repaired by schools.

In the past furniture stock would be "topped up" periodically, either by the school if provided with the funding, or by the Ministry of Education, but that arrangement has been dispensed with over the last decade with a consequential negative impact on the quality-education delivery process.

It is unfortunate that the academic year is starting on a note of gloom and despair, and it is anticipated that many schools would be challenged to retain minimum standards of health and safety. It is also anticipated that many principals will be bullied into keeping schools open despite obvious health and safety shortcomings.

The goodwill, resilience and dedication of the nation's teachers have been keeping many schools open for several years now, but even that commitment from the educators has limits.

It is anticipated that unsafe schools and classrooms would feature prominently in the media by education stakeholders in the this academic year with the associated frustrations and anger. Remember, cuts in education don’t heal easily.