The New Democratic Party (NDP) congratulates all the students who are successful in this year’s CAPE and CSEC exams. We also wish the teachers, students and parents well for the new academic year 2023-2024.
There is an urgent need to re-engineer our education system. For too long our education system has focused on traditional academic programs that culminate with CSEC, CAPE and a university degree. Our schools should also be equipped to provide and assess students in skills and technical aptitudes needed for jobs and economic development.
The Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) is part of the process of achieving certified skilled workers, promoted by the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME). Though this CARICOM initiative was established in 2007, it was only in 2016, almost a decade later that St. Vincent and the Grenadines was granted approval to offer Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ). While other CARICOM countries have been offering CVQ’s at levels 1 and 2 with much success at the secondary school level, St. Vincent and the Grenadines has in effect been offering limited skills training to limited numbers of out-of-school youths. St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been left behind by its regional counterparts because the necessary instruments to facilitate implementation at the secondary level are not in place.
President of the NDP and Leader of the Opposition, Honourable Dr. Godwin Friday, in a National Address on Education, outlined the following programs that his party will implement when it is elected to office:
- “Ensure that technical and vocational education is well-integrated within the education system so that every child has the opportunity for a comprehensive education.
- Ensure competency-based curricula linked to the CVQ framework in all secondary schools and other suitable settings in the workplace and the wider community.
- Establish a qualification framework that enables learners to move seamlessly between “academic” and vocational qualifications in formal and informal educational settings.
- Increase opportunities for skills development and lifelong learning through vigorous and well-managed Continuing Education programs.
- In addition to technical and vocational programs, we must teach agriculture in all primary and secondary schools.
- Develop the whole person and promote our culture, Art, Music, Dance and other forms of cultural expression must be regarded not merely as optional courses but as essential components of a modern education. So, they must be taught at all levels and in all schools.
In keeping with this and the recognized importance of shaping our unique national identity, instruction in the Garifuna language should be made widely available in our schools.
And we must do other things too: Registration fees for secondary schools are too much. At a time when families are facing pressures across the board, we believe registration fees should be eliminated. CSEC and CAPE subjects must be paid by the state. Parents and students should not have to go begging friends and strangers for money to pay for their subjects. Having admitted all students to secondary school and encouraged them along the way, it makes good sense to complete the process by paying for their exams. For too many families, the joy of securing a place at university is dampened by the fear of expensive student loans. Our student loan rates are among the highest in the region. We have a plan to cut those rates in half to 4.5%.”
Cost-of-living crisis hurting families
The rising cost-of-living continues to hurt families. In light of the cost-of-living crisis, and the financial burden parents have experienced in preparing their children to return to school, the following statement was released by the party:
“The New Democratic Party (NDP) is calling on the ULP government to take immediate action to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, as families across the country are struggling to pay for their children’s educational supplies for the upcoming school year.
Children across the country are set to return to school for the academic year 2023-2024. However, most families are now faced with the challenge of paying for new schoolbooks and equipment amid a cost-of-living crisis that is burdening our country.
We call on the government to immediately put in place a tax holiday on school items ahead of the new school term, implement a broad-based policy on transportation to ease the financial burden on parents in sending their children to school and provide adequate funding for the School Feeding Program.
In June, inflation rose to 5.3 per cent – the highest it has been in fourteen (14) years, putting greater burden on Vincentians. Despite this, the government has failed to take action on tackling the cost of living crisis.
President of the NDP, Honourable Dr Godwin Friday, said, “It is shameful that our government has done nothing to help Vincentians struggling with the high cost-of-living. Only last week, during a walkabout in East St. George, a constituent was telling me his concerns about the cost of getting his children ready for the new school year.
People need support now. That is why the NDP is proposing a 5-point action plan that would provide real and tangible support to persons. Families are worried about the cost of living ahead of the coming school year.”
During this difficult period, the NDP has a clear plan to ease the burden that families are facing by building our national economy so that it can support families and parents who struggle with the costs associated with education.
The NDP’s plan includes: reducing VAT from 16% down to 13%; reducing the Customs Service Charge, ‘The Big Tax on Everything’; increasing support for lower income families; reducing the impact of the fuel surcharge on VINLEC bills; reviewing the list of VAT items with a view to increasing the number of zero-rated items. Education should not be an unaffordable burden for families.