Education: We deserve to know the ugly truth

 

 

By PACO NUNEZ

Tribune News Editor:

 

The picture emerging out of The Tribune's ongoing probe into the state of public schooling isn't particularly flattering. It's quite scandalous, actually.

It suggests, in a nutshell, that a thus far incalculable fortune - certainly in the tens, perhaps even in the hundreds of millions - has been wasted away because corruption and incompetence have been allowed to fester in the Ministry of Education over the last three decades or so.

So far, we have discovered that:

* the financial records of many schools are either in a mess or largely non-existent because for years principals doubled as accountants, even though some "couldn't balance their own cheque books," as one source put it.

* funds raised on campus, for example from snack shop sales, have gone completely unaccounted for. This money, which for some schools represents as much as $200,000 a year, was used on things like teachers' lunches or buying cell phones for principals.

* despite the fact that education is the greediest of all government entities, regularly eating through up to $200 million a year, students are served terribly when it comes to crucial areas like information technology. Only about six per cent of schools even have IT labs (not that increasing this number would likely make much difference - it turns out many teachers don't know how to use a computer themselves).

* ministry officials have poured millions into purchasing equipment and services that either don't work properly or aren't being used. The public is still paying hundreds of thousands a year in licensing fees on certain systems, without seeing any substantial benefits.

We also learned that details of the above have never reached the public because of a "see no evil, hear no evil" culture of cowardice permeating the ministry, and an entrenched network of co-conspirators - some of whom only protect the others out of fear that turning whistleblower might lead to a finger being pointed at them.

But while the public has been in the dark, it turns out we didn't uncover much that was news to the government.

Time after time, we came upon what we believed was a well concealed dirty little secret, only to find an official, though quiet, investigation already underway.

The accounting mess has led to a full audit of all high schools and the assigning of a professional bursar to each one; officials are looking into the spending of tens of thousands of dollars on pieces of equipment known as interactive whiteboards, many of which are now gathering dust for various reasons; and another probe has led to the removal of several ministry employees from their posts on suspicion of corruption and theft.

There is also an official audit taking place in relation to the next phase of The Tribune's investigation, the activities of the Education Loan Authority, the first instalment of which appears on today's front page.

Obviously then, the current government cares about setting education to rights and is making a concerted effort to do so.

But if these investigations are all going to be conducted behind closed doors, how effective can they be?

Senior officials will tell you they are waiting for the results before they say anything, but it's difficult to put faith in such assertions when you know the traditional response to public sector crime is to try and change the system so it won't happen again, then quietly transfer the offenders to other departments rather than taking real action against them - a strategy virtually guaranteed to encourage yet more corruption.

And, what happens if the government changes in the next elections, and the new administration feels the investigations should be discontinued?

Then, there is the problem of certain senior officials who, though not implicated in any wrongdoing, are constantly working to protect the ministry's reputation as a method of protecting their own.

How effective these individuals can be at subverting the government's "covert" investigations can be seen in the case of those ministry workers suspected of corruption.

It turns out that although they were removed, within the space of a few months some of them had been reinstated and some even promoted.

And, despite being accused of having sticky fingers, sources claim that one of them has been transferred to the department overseeing the allocation of more than $11 million soon to be gifted to the ministry by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

How could this happen?

Simple: the employees' contract stipulates that if a senior ministry official recommends promotion, the government would have to produce hard evidence of wrongdoing to block it - evidence that is still being compiled because the investigation is ongoing.

The solution could also be simple: the government could conduct its investigations in the open, admit it suspects that certain parts of the ministry are woefully inept or completely corrupt, and expose officials who recommend promotions for staff who are under suspicion.

And it could get a respected independent agency to conduct its audits and publish the results.

In other words, they could just tell us the whole truth. The wave of public anger likely to follow would all but kill off interference from mischievous bureaucrats or future administrations.

This, of course, is unlikely to happen. All governments have a vested interest in projecting the image that all's well on their watch. They fear that in exposing the truth, they may become identified with the wreckage even if it isn't their fault.

There is also a concern about opening the floodgates: how many other ministries and government departments are in just as much of a shambles?

Then there's the question of consequences for the public school system itself. The Tribune's investigation has already led to one reputable US firm expressing concern it may be caught up in a scandal because of its dealings with the ministry. If the full picture emerges, will it affect the ministry's relationship with its best friend, the IDB, which has propped up our public schools over the last few decades to the tune of more than $70 million?

Nevertheless, all those working to keep the public in the dark about how its money has been wasted - whether ministry employees, senior officials, or politicians (and notice how quiet the opposition has been on this particular issue) - should remember exactly who suffers because of all this, and what is really at stake.

There are 50,000 children in the public school system. Each instance of incompetence or impropriety represents a little piece of their future being thrown away.

Failing schools fuel crime and contribute yet more under-skilled individuals to an already woefully inept labour force.

And, considering our problem with expanding national debt, throwing $200 million every year at a corrupt and ineffective institution doesn't seem like a good idea either.

In short, it is all of us who are the victims in this scenario, and we have a right to know what's going on.

What do you think?

Email comments to: pnunez@tribunemedia.net

June 27, 2011

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