Independent Senator Dr Paul Richards has commended Finance Minister Colm Imbert for confronting the “textbook cartel” to seek standardisation of textbooks—but Richards has also called for attention to the “red flags” in the education system that translate into dropouts and persons entering the criminal justice system.
“If you don’t intervene in the education sector, you’ll have to intervene in the police station,” Richards said in Parliament yesterday during Senate debate on the 2024 Budget.
He commended Government’s plan, “... to deal with what I describe as the textbook cartel—because it’s a cartel ... where books—one paragraph is changed in a book and the school requires the book to be updated”.
“So, there’s no passing down of the book to siblings, friends, family or people you don’t know, but you want to contribute to their education. That book is now null and void and money was paid for it, but you have to pay for a new book,” Richards said.
“Every principal in a particular discipline can choose a different textbook. That makes no sense to me in what is supposed to be a standardised education system. That’s also part of the cartel because you could make seven textbooks for the same subject and make plenty money and there’s no passing down of the book or sharing of the material which still has value—that needs to be broken up.”
Richards also commended Imbert’s announcement of the $1,000 grant to help students, since he said one of the major contributors to student underperformance and dropout is poverty.
Richards, noting Government had spent $80 billion on the education/training sector between 2015 to 2024, asked, “Is this substantial investment producing the types of citizens we want? Has it identified at-risk youth and intervened effectively before they cross paths with the many elements of the criminal justice system? Is it producing citizens who can compete globally or producing kind, caring, compassionate citizens?”
Richards disagreed with the suggestion that the education sector is in shambles.
“But we cannot continue to ignore the glaring examples and red flags of underperformance at the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) level, which translates to underperformance at secondary level and dropout which translates, in many instances, into incursions into the criminal justice system,” Richards said.
“There are serious critical gaps that aren’t being addressed effectively or as fast as they need to be addressed, given the clear consequences of these gaps on the wider society.”
He added, “Among these are SEA underperformance and school dropouts, which I believe is a time bomb that isn’t ticking anymore but has exploded onto the streets and manifesting significantly in crime, poverty and homelessness. There’s also the serious dereliction of duty to the disability community and students with special needs in and out of the school system.”
Citing reports, Richards said data from the SEA examination from 2010 to the present and even before, reveal a consistent and troubling percentage of students who do not achieve 50 per cent or more.
Richards indicated the issue isn’t SEA, “but a system that is failing to effectively remediate students who are documented to be underperforming in Standard One, Two, Three, Four and consequently Five and at SEA level…”
“In any civilised country, we can say with 50 failing to pass, it’s the education system that’s failing the students. Then you compound the situation by moving students who score 30 or 40 per cent into new curricular in secondary school and expect them to perform miracles—complete and utter madness!”
He said when students are told they’re a failure in SEA or can’t cope with Form One, and are told they’re failures throughout other forms and they fail the CSEC, they’d turn away from society into the arms of gang leaders. “That’s what’s happening.”
Noting Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s statement on the need for adjusting laws, Richards said it’s not only laws that need to evolve.
“We need to intervene before the criminality takes room, through a more responsive education system.”
