The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A former veteran Bahamian educator is expressing concern over reported threats by the Minister of Education to “hunt down” unregulated educational facilities operating in the country.

Former school principal Joseph Darville believes it would be wise that the government instead invite those illegal operators to come in voluntarily to be regularized.

The issue is one that should be best handled and resolved using “a more conciliatory method,” according to the well-known educator who served some 30 years in the private education system.

In a statement issued on Sunday, he said: “I would like to address the expression attributed to my dear friend, the Honorable Minister of Education. Supposedly, he or his government will “hunt down” those individuals who have dared to establish unregulated educational facilities in the nation. To ‘hunt down’ immediately awakened in my mind the images of well-armed hunters sent forth with bows and arrows, handguns and pistols to capture some escaped criminals or to kill some wild and threatening beasts of prey. I know it is not what was meant, but the images linger in my mind. A more conciliatory method, I thought, would have been to invite these clandestine offenders who have centres of learning without proper sanctions to come in voluntarily to be regularized in accordance with the law. I pray, therefore, that this method could still be employed."

Also concerned about the education of Bahamian children during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Darville is calling for every child to be equipped with necessary instruments for virtual learning.

He said: “We know not for how long this pandemic of COVID-19 will continue to interrupt the traditional manner of facilitating the education of our children. Firstly, every child of formal education age must be equipped with the necessary instruments with which to commence or continue learning.”

In this electronic age, the educator says each and every child should be in possession of a laptop or tablet.

He also noted that every teacher in the nation should have all the necessary equipment, as well as training to facilitate distance learning.

Despite the economic woes of the country, Mr Darville indicated that there are funds, “the millions and billions stored in local and foreign banks,” that can be accessed for such a venture at a cost of some $30 million.

He also suggested that contributions can come from the wealthy, who receive an exemption of corporate or income tax, and who are the one percent of the population owning 99 percent of the wealth of this nation.

“Thus, it is time they be asked, pleaded with, or persuaded to give back to the children of this nation,” he stressed. “I estimate it to be within the range of less than $30m to equip every school-age child in this country with proper instruments for learning,” Mr Darville said.

“It is indeed a sacred obligation that we must pay immediate, knowledgeable, and wise attention to this national and essential obligation. Without this urgent attention, we will set this country up to be the capital of illiteracy in the world. We already have a dumbed-down literacy level in this nation,” he warned.

The educator also referred to challenges in the homes of children, particularly where most parents are not familiar with modern technology, and where there is a need for serious assistance.

According to Mr Darville, many of them, even at the traditional level of 39 percent, are living at or below the poverty level.

“Thus, there needs to be an army of facilitators prepared and sent forth in all these homes to assist students and parents in gaining a basic understanding of using instruments for distance learning,” he stated.

To address this, the educator suggested that thousands of high school and college graduates could be utilized in this respect.

“Exiting the halls of institutions of learning this year, last year and many in the past, we have a huge cadre of savvy young people, in the thousands (like 10,000 or more), from high schools and universities, who can be employed at basic wage to be that army of facilitators sent forth in homes to assist our students and their parents. What a marvelous way to give back to the nation and at the same time to obtain employment for themselves! Funds to cover this, again, can come from the accumulated riches of the privileged in our nation. You know, I can easily name individuals and corporate entities in this regard, but let us just say, they can easily come forth voluntarily for the benefit of our children,” emphasized Mr Darville.

Turning his attention to the private institutions, the educator thinks that the government should assist in keeping those schools afloat by providing the necessary subsidies, equipment, and enrolling many of the public school children in these institutions to alleviate congestion in the present public school system.

“By this action, another problem will be solved. As private schools would not be able to attract but a fraction of their usual enrolment, due to economic reasons again, many of the teachers who would be necessarily laid off. Thus, the remedy could now be to re-employ them to carry on their good and necessary work. Economically, this is a golden win-win situation. Years ago, as a principal in the private school setting, an estimate was made comparing the cost of teaching a child in public school and one in the private setting. The result was that it cost 15 percent more in the public setting than in the private.

“Finally, I call upon the Minister of Education and the Government of the Bahamas to seriously recruit wise, intelligent and knowledgeable individuals in this nation to assist in establishing a solid, functional and modern path in the education of our children in the present or post COVID-19 environment,” Mr Darville said.