Op-Ed: How the Private Sector Could Help Jamaican Education

By Ramesh Sujanani
Op-Ed Contributor

An old school chum, who has his doctorate from the University of the West Indies, pointed out to me that many students seeking education at tertiary institutions these days don’t speak very well, or do not present an argument with the required detail to get a reasonable answer or debate.

Poor language, articulation, and presentation are the observed faults in many Jamaican students. So the response to direction in work is uncertain from the lecturer’s point of view.

Supervision by graduate students for undergraduates is a popular choice in today’s colleges, and quite often done by graduates studying for a higher diploma. These graduates can put in a minimal amount of time to achieve their objective, but there is a problem: money may be required, which indeed will help the graduate to survive.

So I suggest that a business house or corporate sponsor step in to fund it, which is the basis of the Mentoring/Sponsorship Programme.

I can hear the hue and cry as I make this suggestion. We are not talking a great deal of time here. The University lecturer can set the programme and timing to suit the student’s need: Usually this would be nine months, starting in October.

If we make changes from the top down like this, the effect would flow down to various groups, even to the K-12 level.

The sponsor could, with government approval, write off his contribution against his tax package. This method to me seems to be a win/win situation.

Now there are additional tools to assist with this, like e-mentoring. That allows the student to submit his problems to his graduate via computer. This is where the world is going these days, and a number of schools and colleges overseas, including the University of Ottawa, the University of Georgia and MIT, are engaged in these innovative methods.

Ideally, if a business is the sponsor, the company might prefer to do the supervision itself, using their own trained personnel; the cost of sponsorship would thus be significantly reduced. When you add the computers into the equation, it is obviously cheaper.

Now I ask to extend the thought of sponsorship further: Why can’t the sponsor, who is the mentor of the programme, finance the cost of the total undergraduate education, in exchange for tax reductions, write-offs, and depreciation on the investment in the education, for one or two students at a time?

This would be done on the sponsor’s rules of costs and time, then subject to annual or bi-annual review of progress. If the “mentee” does not perform, the mentor would be at liberty to terminate that relationship, pass it on to another mentor, or refer to the university concerned.

I am now considering a situation where the private sector would assist the Students’ Loan Bureau in financing the educational needs of some, if not all, tertiary students. There is no objection to using a qualified graduate as an adviser.

Finally, there are benefits passed on by the student to the mentor that may not be quantifiable, such as preferred employment on graduation, and assistance in  problem-solving within the workplace.

The overall effect would be a great boon to education in Jamaica, and could perhaps help in the delivery of more first-class graduates.

Ramesh K Sujanani can be reached at rsujanani78@gmail.com.

Note: the opinions expressed in Caribbean Journal Op-Eds are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Caribbean Journal.