No child, no matter their circumstances, should be denied a quality, equitable, solid education. It is the responsibility of every government to provide a free comprehensive primary and secondary education to its nation’s youth.
Unfortunately for many in T&T our system of free public education is still out of financial reach. Because it isn’t free, is it?
On average parents will spend close to $2,000 on textbooks and supplies such as copy books, pencils, calculators, etc. Then there are transportation costs, uniforms, shoes and additional school registration/running costs.
The additional costs mean parents, who are already struggling to keep their heads above water with the escalating cost of living, simply cannot afford to give their children all that is needed for this “free education.”
In April, the Ministry of Education announced applications had been open for the School Supplies and Book Grant valued at $1,000. The wave of applications that came in was startling.
They served as a clear indicator that public education in T&T was now a privilege not a right.
In June, Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly revealed over 26,000 students had applied for the grant. Let that number sink in, and while it is sinking in, please note that these are those who managed to apply.
The application process was riddled with issues. Public criticism pointed out that the ministry did a poor job in dispersing information about the grant, especially to those in rural areas, the online process was confusing, and excluded parents who do not have a reliable device or internet connection.
Therefore, one can safely assume that way more parents, had they had the chance, would have applied for that grant.
I sit on the committee of a charity organisation. Every August we hold an annual back to school drive, where brand new backpacks filled with copy books, photocopy paper, stationery, etc. along with lunch kits and water bottles are donated to various families and community organisations in T&T.
When we first started this project, it was maybe 100 bags. This year, due to an influx of requests, we prepared and donated 250 bags and it still was not enough.
A huge problem we have is the constant reissuing of textbooks. Every few years it’s a new edition. These new editions do not necessarily have any new information, as there are rarely changes to the syllabus, they’ve just laid things out differently, and children are expected to have the latest edition, which means in some cases used textbooks are not an option.
Listen, I understand everyone’s bread needs to be buttered, but let’s leave education out of cash grab schemes please. While I do not believe in governmental interference in free enterprise, some form of intervention needs to happen via legislation. Or textbooks should be heavily subsidised by the government.
But how are they gonna pay for that subsidy? Listen! Maybe if members of the government gave up their tax-free allowances on their luxury vehicles, then that money could be used to subsidise textbooks. As if that will ever happen!!!
Straight up, our governments, past and present, were not and are not serious about education. The fact that parents are asked to send their children to school with cleaning supplies, photocopy paper for office use and toilet paper is ridiculous. We seem to have money for all sorts of vanity projects and repairs of past shoddy overpriced work, but not enough to ensure our children have toilet paper in school.
Almost as ridiculous is the revelation that 78 primary school teacher vacancies will not be filled in time for September because the interview questions were leaked. Great, so let parents spend a butt ton of money for their children to go sit down in teacherless classrooms. Not serious.
The rising costs of our public education exclude those who are most in need of it. For the severely underprivileged in society, education is a key element in trying to break the cycle of poverty and providing children with a chance of a better future, generation by generation.
Oh, and you know what else an affordable education does? It keeps our children off the streets. Education statistically has been shown to decrease crime. So instead of constantly being reactive in our crime fighting efforts (which suck by the way) maybe if we should be proactive, making education more inclusive and more affordable to prevent future crime and stem gang activity.
An educated society is a progressive one. A society that has been starved of education is one doomed to fail.
We aren’t serious and we need to be. Maybe if our members of parliament peeped out of their ivory towers and understood the heavy costs of our “free” education, lessons would be learned, and we would be in a position of progress.
The True Cost of Free Education
AZP News Commentary
EDUCATION is a right, not a privilege.
No child, no matter their circumstances, should be denied a quality, equitable, solid education. It is the responsibility of every government to provide a free comprehensive primary and secondary education to its nation’s youth.
Unfortunately for many in T&T our system of free public education is still out of financial reach. Because it isn’t free, is it?
On average parents will spend close to $2,000 on textbooks and supplies such as copy books, pencils, calculators, etc. Then there are transportation costs, uniforms, shoes and additional school registration/running costs.
The additional costs mean parents, who are already struggling to keep their heads above water with the escalating cost of living, simply cannot afford to give their children all that is needed for this “free education.”
In April, the Ministry of Education announced applications had been open for the School Supplies and Book Grant valued at $1,000. The wave of applications that came in was startling.
They served as a clear indicator that public education in T&T was now a privilege not a right.
In June, Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly revealed over 26,000 students had applied for the grant. Let that number sink in, and while it is sinking in, please note that these are those who managed to apply.
The application process was riddled with issues. Public criticism pointed out that the ministry did a poor job in dispersing information about the grant, especially to those in rural areas, the online process was confusing, and excluded parents who do not have a reliable device or internet connection.
Therefore, one can safely assume that way more parents, had they had the chance, would have applied for that grant.
I sit on the committee of a charity organisation. Every August we hold an annual back to school drive, where brand new backpacks filled with copy books, photocopy paper, stationery, etc. along with lunch kits and water bottles are donated to various families and community organisations in T&T.
When we first started this project, it was maybe 100 bags. This year, due to an influx of requests, we prepared and donated 250 bags and it still was not enough.
A huge problem we have is the constant reissuing of textbooks. Every few years it’s a new edition. These new editions do not necessarily have any new information, as there are rarely changes to the syllabus, they’ve just laid things out differently, and children are expected to have the latest edition, which means in some cases used textbooks are not an option.
Listen, I understand everyone’s bread needs to be buttered, but let’s leave education out of cash grab schemes please. While I do not believe in governmental interference in free enterprise, some form of intervention needs to happen via legislation. Or textbooks should be heavily subsidised by the government.
But how are they gonna pay for that subsidy? Listen! Maybe if members of the government gave up their tax-free allowances on their luxury vehicles, then that money could be used to subsidise textbooks. As if that will ever happen!!!
Straight up, our governments, past and present, were not and are not serious about education. The fact that parents are asked to send their children to school with cleaning supplies, photocopy paper for office use and toilet paper is ridiculous. We seem to have money for all sorts of vanity projects and repairs of past shoddy overpriced work, but not enough to ensure our children have toilet paper in school.
Almost as ridiculous is the revelation that 78 primary school teacher vacancies will not be filled in time for September because the interview questions were leaked. Great, so let parents spend a butt ton of money for their children to go sit down in teacherless classrooms. Not serious.
The rising costs of our public education exclude those who are most in need of it. For the severely underprivileged in society, education is a key element in trying to break the cycle of poverty and providing children with a chance of a better future, generation by generation.
Oh, and you know what else an affordable education does? It keeps our children off the streets. Education statistically has been shown to decrease crime. So instead of constantly being reactive in our crime fighting efforts (which suck by the way) maybe if we should be proactive, making education more inclusive and more affordable to prevent future crime and stem gang activity.
An educated society is a progressive one. A society that has been starved of education is one doomed to fail.
We aren’t serious and we need to be. Maybe if our members of parliament peeped out of their ivory towers and understood the heavy costs of our “free” education, lessons would be learned, and we would be in a position of progress.