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Bahamas: Minister Rejects National Lottery Suggestion To Fund Education In The Islands
Related to country: Bahamas

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Education Minister Rejects Nat’l Lottery Suggestion:
By Viraj Perpall -
Nassau, Bahamas:




Minister of Education Carl Bethel has denied that the government plans to establish a national lottery over the next 10 years to fund education in The Bahamas.

The statement that the government will establish a national lottery is contained in the latest draft of a new plan for education, which the Bahama Journal has obtained.

Mr. Bethel confirmed that the Ministry of Education is completing a 10-year education plan but indicated that he is not aware of any plans to fund education through the means of "legalized gambling."

"As minister of education I have no knowledge of this," Mr. Bethel said.

"When I got to Education I met discussions in the Department of Education about the development of a 10-year plan that had been going on for at least 10 years. I set up a strategic group within the ministry and they are now in the process of engaging internal focus groups with stakeholders, with technical officers in the ministry and they are in the process of coming up with a framework that they will suggest to me as minister."

He said he hasn’t seen the final draft of the plan – the draft which contains the plan for a national lottery.

"Before any such plan is put out to the public for consultation it has to go to Cabinet so that what is put out not just reflects the thinking of the technical officers of the Department of Education, not just the minister, but the thinking of the government," Mr. Bethel said.

"I can assure you that whatever you may have seen, when you see the document that comes from the government there will be significant differences. I am not aware that the funding of any endeavor through the proceeds of legalized gambling is a part of the government’s plan."

Mr. Bethel also said that as the minister of education, he believes that education deserves the fullest support of the government through the wise use of funds from the national treasury.

Mr. Bethel, while indicating that using a national lottery to fund education may not work, spoke of how a US state failed in this attempt.

"As the lottery money was used to fund education, the state’s allocation of funds towards education fell proportionately to the amounts received from the lottery," he said.

Mr. Bethel also said a national lottery is not a mature decision for The Bahamas.

"I am not purporting to speak as minister or for the government, but I’m not sure that is the way The Bahamas would wish to go," he said.

Recently, a group of pastors rejected the idea of a national lottery to fund education.

"You cannot build a nation off of greed, covetousness, chance, indiscipline and irresponsibility," said Lyall Bethel, senior pastor of Grace Community Church.

Chairman of the National Advisory Council on Crime and Senior Pastor of New Covenant Baptist Church Bishop Simeon Hall charged that a national lottery would hurt the poor more than anyone else in the society.

"This kind of economic chancing hurts the poor," Bishop Hall said. "Only poor people will be hurt if the lottery is introduced."

He said there are better ways to fund education.

The strategic plan states "effort must be made to seek legitimate and creative sources of funding which will be needed for the construction of educational facilities, the further development of instructional programmes and the purchase of tuition supplies."

The plan says the government will install closed circuit TV systems in secondary schools; review policies on suspension and expulsion; further develop alternative educational and training programmes for at-risk students; establish safety protocols at all education facilities and improve pre and in-service training for security personnel.

The plan also commits to outfitting all secondary schools with cafeterias and auditoriums, and expanding the role of school boards in the maintenance of schools.

June 9, 2008

June 9, 2008 | 12:44 PM Comments  0 comments

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