Chairman of the Public Service Commission Brian Moree is calling for a bi-partisan approach to educational reform.
“Our educational system today, over a period of decades, has not adequately served the interest of the Bahamian people,” he said while speaking at the Rotary of Nassau’s weekly meeting.
“We have not done as well as we should have or could have done without descending into the minutia of policy. What you might do or what I might do may be different but the basic fact is that our education system is in trouble. It needs to be improved.”
Mr. Moree said the country cannot expect to compete globally unless schools are producing educated and literate students.
“That too often at the moment is not happening,” he said. “Whether you are PLP, FNM or anything else, we must agree that we can do better and will do better.”
Mr. Moree said that more often than not politicians look to fix national issues in five years.
“We cannot fix our current problems in five years. It didn’t take five years to create and they won’t be fixed in five years. In the life of a country, five years is a very short period of time. In the life of a politician it’s an eternity,” he said.
“If we accept that it is cultural multi-dimensional problem, which is going to require a national and not a partisan solution, which is going to take a period of time or more than five years to fix then we can’t be changing our policy every five years when the government changes.”
He suggested that Bahamians have to get away from short-term thinking.
‘We have to understand that if you are going to develop a national educational programme then that’s what it has to be. It can’t be a FNM or PLP programme. The fact of the matter is it requires a solution which both political parties can buy into, which is developed around the table of consultation where partisan politics can subjugated to national objectives,” Mr. Moree said.
The chairman said this should also be done with issues like illegal immigration and the diversification of the economy.
He said in order to deal with these issues, Bahamians must look beyond politics.
“My ideas should be listened to no matter what my political affiliation is,” Mr. Moree said.
“Politics permeates every aspect of our public life. But in my view it doesn’t change the fact that those of us who are privileged to be in a position of some influence in society, have some opportunities to get educated and to obtain some sort of exposure around the world, we have a duty to give something back to our country. We need to be actively involved in the process in trying to inform our people of the difference between nation building and politics.”
