Seeking Guidance and Understanding

The hot topic of the week was the student protest at the UWI Cave Hill Campus which evoked more criticism of the students than support for the students. However, we should remember that most of the students who protested are dependent on their parents to foot their bills.

Hence their protest must also be seen in this light. They must know how hard it is for them to get money from their parents for petty fees, books, bus fare and whatever it takes for them to properly pursue their studies.

Remarkably, amidst the raging debate and pointing of fingers at what some described as unreasonable students, a senior citizen called into a call-in programme with the most compassion. His words portrayed a maturity, a man who understood survival and one who so much understood the importance of education as a pathway out of poverty.

In effect what he was saying is that nothing should stand in the way of the poorest of us all to be able to improve their lot through education. Maybe he was saying that if there are but two or three poor people out there, there should be not even a hint of a deterrent that would turn back those striving to get out of poverty. The point he is making is that education should be a right and not according to one's pocket.

While we hear that there is some reprieve for those who can't pay, to be poor could be undignified and stigmatized especially when one has to prove one's poverty. Many may not respect that but it is a very important issue to the poor. So the fact that there may be some relief for those who can't pay is no consolation and may very well have been an afterthought to counter any arguments advanced by those who say they can't pay.

The stigma of Poverty

I remember back in 1994 when I first embarked on the fight against poverty but more specifically to identify who is in poverty, I learned a lasting lesson. Partnering with UNDP I set out with Lee Badley-Farnum to identify persons in poverty.

In the public debate on "What is Poverty?" one of the answers that came back to haunt us was, "Poverty is a product of the mind". In trying to test this theory, we went to investigate reports of an elderly lady, living in extreme squalor in a household of about eleven children and grandchildren.

On spotting the target house, Mr. Badley-Farnum went forward. He told the mistress of this two-room house with its many children that he was looking for a very poor elderly woman who has many children and grandchildren living with her in a dilapidated house. He asked her if she knew such a person living in that same gap.

The lady pondered for a bit. She looked to her dilapidated roof and then to her rotten floor and to our amazement the lady said; "You know I don't know anybody like that."

As much as Mr. Badley-Farnum had asked the question he too was floored. It was the first time I ever saw him speechless. He eventually said thank you and we beat a hasty retreat not knowing what to say or how to tell the old lady that she was poor. We had in mind relief for her and wondered if she would take it, given the answer she provided.

After a couple days had passed another team from Pinelands Creative Workshop visited this lady and offered her relief without acknowledging that she was poor. They asked her if she would take some foodstuffs which she happily received.

One lesson we learned from this is that a lot of poor people will stay in the cycle of poverty unless offered the assistance to alleviate or get them out - a fact that should inform Government's policy on poverty.

Another important point is that a person working for $5,000.00 per month is by no means a rich person or even a well off person unless he/she has no mortgage to pay, no car loan, no car to upkeep and no dependants to support and no children to send to university.

Many of these people as they say, "have to band their bellies" because they are reluctant to beg. So the stigma of poverty is not only with the destitute but also with what one may call the "working poor".

Beneficiaries not putting back

A most important observation made by the senior caller to the call-in programme was that those who benefit from free education are not giving anything back to the society. Here the question is whether or not those charged with governance are not behaving the same way as those we say only want handouts.

The senior citizen argued that Government should provide common services because it collects taxes and in the same way that Government provides so should the University. He said that the UWI has men with brains, skills and talent who should be able to come together and find ways of raising the required funds rather than taking the easy way out by calling upon the students to pay.

In taking the side of this senior citizen, I am mindful of the fact that we are going into a global arrangement where we as citizens are expected to be competitive. One of the key elements for being competitive is wide access to education.

In seeking guidance and understanding in this matter, the question is, have we come sufficiently far to let go of free education? Isn't it still a requirement given the fact that the Prime Minister is reported as saying that we should achieve at least one graduate per household by the year 2020?

Given the example of Mona which introduced a similar fee that keeps going up and up, should we not put our heads together and find creative ways of raising the funds rather than deter the very people whom we want to get an education?

Of course there are some who can pay but isn't that the price we pay for development? Should the burden of development stay squarely on the shoulders of the poor at all times?

Roosevelt O. King
Secretary General - BANGO
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