Move away from ‘piece of paper’ syndrome

Chairman of the Natural Gas Export Task Force and UWI lecturer, Professor   Ken Julien, lamented the “piece of paper” syndrome of students, who  seemed not be aware of the true reason and need for pursuing tertiary education in today’s world. He said people seem to want to pursue tertiary education with a motivation to get their qualifications for a high-paying job, rather than seeing the need to infiltrate the skills they learnt towards the development of their country.

He was speaking with reference to the need for highly-skilled labourers as the Caribbean region becomes more globalised and the battles and challenges of a fast-growing economy such as TT’s. Professor Julien was the main presenter during session five of the Central Bank of TT and the International Monetary Fund’s International Seminar, “Developmental Challenges Facing the Caribbean,” held at Hilton Trinidad yesterday. He spoke on the topic “Reforming Education for Caribbean Development.” Professor Julien lamented that there was no “real training” of people hired in the maritime industry, energy and manufacturing sectors.

He pointed out, for example, that in the manufacturing sector, in which approximately 55,000 people are employed in TT, less than five percent had  formal training in their field. He said if this trend continues, TT may not be ready to withstand the full impact of globalisation when it hits this country. Professor Julien said a recent study showed that at the post secondary and tertiary education level in TT, there are about 161 educational institutions and 149 of them are private. “Which means there is a demand and there is money to be made,” he quipped. He noted that a substantial amount of the nation’s wealth is being allocated to education and training, but questioned the motivation for this on the students’ part.

“There is this growing syndrome among students who are saying, ‘really what I want is this piece of paper to get this job’, ” he lamented. Another speaker in a previous session, Dr Ralph Henry, Consultant, KAIRI Consultants, in his comments on “Poverty and Poverty Alleviation in the Caribbean,” noted that approximately 60 percent of the workforce had not completed either junior or secondary school education. In response to Professor Julien’s contribution, Dr Janet Stanley-Marcano, Programme Director, Restructuring and Decentralisation, Ministry of Education, pointed out that the Ministry was currently in the midst of reforming the secondary and primary school education system to deal with the challenges of today’s society, including the training and re-training of teachers.

She indicated that the Ministry was also looking at developing a national secondary school curriculum rather than the examination curriculum that currently exists. She endorsed Professor Julien’s concern, pointing out that the reason for changing the curriculum was to encourage students to “have a vision to create,” as they too, deal with the challenges of a fast-developing society.