By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian society and the economy will “pay the price” if this nation fails to tackle its decades-old education woes, it was argued yesterday, as an ex-tourism minister readies to head the Productivity Council.

Peter Goudie, head of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) labour division, disclosed to Tribune Business that Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace is set to head the newly-formed body charged with improving workforce output and efficiency while warning that schools continue to churn out “a whole bunch of kids we can’t hire”.

Mr Vanderpool-Wallace did not respond to calls and messages seeking comment before press time last night. Mr Goudie initially referred to him as the former “Caribbean tourism minister”, a reference to his time as director-general of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) - a post sandwiched by his appointments as first, director-general, and then minister, of tourism for The Bahamas.

Speaking after it was disclosed that just 375 Bahamian secondary school graduates, a number equal to only 6 percent of BGCSE exam registrants or 22.3 percent (just over one in five) of those sitting five or more subjects, gained at least a ‘C’ in Mathematics, English and a science, Mr Goudie told this newspaper the consequences for The Bahamas will be “terrible” if educational achievement does not improve.

He was backed by Dillon Knowles, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce’s president, who warned that local firms’ labour costs “will continue to skyrocket” as a result of having to pay unproductive staff who lack the skills, work ethic and drive required in a modern economy.

Pointing out that The Bahamas is already a high-priced, high-cost destination for labour, utilities and other factors of production, he added that the inability of this nation’s secondary school system to produce graduates with the required skills in sufficient quantities continues to undermine the competitiveness of both local companies and the wider economy.

Warning that this will ultimately act as a drag on living standards and quality of life, Mr Knowles said the long-standing education woes and ‘D- ‘ grade average impose a further cost burden on many Bahamian employers through having to train staff in basic skills they should have acquired in primary and secondary school.

“That’s obviously a challenge,” Mr Knowles said of the deficiencies again highlighted by the BGCSE data. “On the technical side, if we don’t develop the necessary skills it’s going to require applications for work permits to bring in foreigners who have them. 

“On the non-vocational side of things, if we don’t up the educational value of the students we are going to have to end up having to pay more in either lost productivity or continued education paid for by business owners, which will obviously be a drain on their ability to develop their business. We have to solve the educational challenges in the country.

“My personal belief is we are going about it the wrong way. We are trying to teach people how to pass tests rather than teaching people how to learn and we have got to figure that out.”

Asked about the consequences for the Bahamian economy and society if the status quo remains unchanged, Mr Knowles replied: “The consequences are going to be that the cost of labour will continue to skyrocket because you end up having to pay for non-productive staff and less efficient staff, and we are already a high-priced labour location, so that doesn’t bode well for us in the long run.”

The GB Chamber chief said labour quality and cost challenges combined with high-priced utilities, logistics expenses and The Bahamas’ import dependency to make business challenging. “It’s a challenge for us as a country to be able to compete in the global arena that we must compete in if we are to grow the nation,” he told Tribune Business.

“We kind of get away with it in a sense because a lot of GDP comes from the hospitality industry, but even that is becoming very competitive. The Caribbean is catching up with The Bahamas’ market share. If we don’t start doing something about it we’re going to pay the price.”

Mr Goudie, meanwhile, said the BCCEC had voiced its concerns over the quality of education system graduates recently to Dominique McCartney-Russell, the Government’s director of education. “We’re concerned. We’re not getting the students out of school with an education,” he told this newspaper.

“We’re very concerned about it, and have spoken as a Chamber to the director of education about all this. She said they are working on it etc.... We’ve raised our concerns with the Ministry of Education. There’s whole bunch of kids out there we cannot hire. They don’t have any decent grades; they don’t have any BGCSEs. Who’s going to hire them? We’ve expressed that to the director of education.”

Mr Goudie, who is among the private sector representatives on the National Tripartite Council, the body featuring government, trade union and business officials that was set-up to resolve all labour-related matters, confirmed that the Productivity Council is being “set up right now”.

Besides himself and Mr Vanderpool-Wallace, who he described as an “excellent candidate” for chairman, the Council will also involve Paul Farquharson, the former director of labour and union head. “I believe it’s all been set up; we just haven’t met yet,” Mr Goudie added. “It’s about increasing productivity: Period.

“We’re going to learn lessons from the other Caribbean countries that have such a council, looking at Jamaica and Barbados, so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It’s going to improve efficiencies, and it’s also going to improve business.”

The Chamber’s labour chief described as “terrible” the consequences if The Bahamas cannot improve educational achievement and develop a more productive workforce. “We just don’t have the calibre of students coming up through the system to meet our needs, and that’s why we have so many work permits,” he told Tribune Business.

“The economy is not going to do as well as it should. Period. We’re just not going to be competitive with other countries. I would like to see them truly address what the issues are and fix them, such as social progression, where they go from grade to grade even if they don’t pass. The kids aren’t getting the education they should, and it’s unfortunate. It’s really unfortunate for our young people.”

Glenys Hanna Martin, minister of education and vocational training, on Sunday night suggested that while improvements in educational achievement have occurred more is needed. “Our data is showing a preliminary graduation rate of 58 percent has been attained nationally, the highest graduation rate since the inception of the programme,” she asserted.

“When we examine our national examination results, we see both progress and persistent challenges. For BJCs, 38.8 percent of students sitting five or more exams received a grade of ‘C’ or higher. For BGCSEs, 37.2 percent achieved this standard.

“Simultaneously, the overall GPA (grade point average) has risen from 2.18 to 2.24, with 1,190 fewer students in our lowest-performing category. These figures tell a profound story about young Bahamians across our archipelago.”

The minister later added: “The data reveals critical intervention points. Grade 5 and Grade 9 emerge as pivotal moments where focused support can change entire trajectories. In literacy, we celebrate comparatively strong performance in the lower primary years but we must address the challenges that emerge in upper primary and junior high.

“In mathematics, we see concerning declines from the promising foundation established in early grades. While many students are thriving, this year’s results further highlight the persistent issues we have faced when it comes to core subjects like math, language and science.

“These results confirm both the resilience of our students who have persisted through great difficulties, as well as the urgent need for reform.”