COMMENTARY

A Wired Caribbean: The education crisis in Ja

By Ann-Marie Adams
An award-winning journalist who lives in Connecticut. She is writing a book on school segregation and its impact on Caribbean immigrants.

Wednesday,  August 17, 2005

Politicians sometimes pose with poor children. It’s good press. Business people who do charity work and want others to know about it put on a show, too. That’s because such human-interest story grabs our attention. 

I, however, bore easily at these contrived press conferences with scheduled photo opportunities using poor children and their surroundings as the backdrop. So a cloak of cynicism slips on when I cover these events. 

But at a June press conference in Jamaica with comedian and actor Steve Harvey, Actor Richard Roundtree, Cricketer Desmond Haynes and other C-list celebrities, I was forced to let go the cynicism and embrace common sense: celebrities were there to bring attention to the education crisis in Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean. 

In an effort to bridge the digital divide, two California-based businessmen pledged to put computer labs in every primary school in Jamaica. They plan to do so in five years and then move on to the rest of the Caribbean.

Jamaican-born Richard Stephenson, president of RISARC, a computer software firm, and Roy Davidson, president of Universal Health Employment Network Inc., cosponsored the golf tournament to raise money. The money, they said, will benefit Barracks Road Primary School and other already selected schools. Barracks is expected to be a model for the island’s 700 primary schools.

Barracks, established in 1871, is likely the oldest primary school in Montego Bay. The school has 1,620 students, 38 teachers, two vice principals and one guidance counselor. There, the demand for space is “so overwhelming and unbearable” says Barracks Principal, Almanzo T. Jones. “It wants me to run away.”

Barracks was selected, Davidson said, because it was close to being “computer ready.” 

Stephenson said he was pleased all the pieces—corporate sponsors, celebrities, government, a community involvement and individuals from Canada, the United Kingdom and the U.S. - were in place to make this project a reality. Students in the Caribbean, he said, must be technologically savvy to keep up with the world. 

“My son started on the computer at age two,” Stephenson said. “He’s 12 now. These kids have a long way to catch up to him.” 

More than one month after the event, though, the group has yet to release how much money was actually raised. But Davidson offered that he and his partner actually lost money in an effort to drum up a significant buzz around their charity event. 

He also said this was not entirely an altruistic affair. 

“We’re businessmen,” he said.

And that’s the part we shouldn’t forget. In the process of doing good, they will make money and opportunities for themselves. Far be it for me to criticize or condemn these two. But it’s imperative that they ensure this is a transparent venture not just to a press leery of poverty pimps but also to a community that is obviously a victim of poverty and that clings to the promise of goodwill. 

The students and staff at Barracks were so appreciative that Stephenson, Davidson and other celebrities traveled from their swanky abode at the Ritz-Carlton and Half Moon hotels to their humble village, so the students performed a speech entitled: “Why Are You in School Today.” 

Roundtree, whose acting credits include Shaft and Desperate Housewives, said the performance touched him and he couldn’t help but notice how focused the students were: “When you see that kind of drive, it makes you want to go out and do what you can for them.” 

Harvey was also moved. After he saw Barbados native, Haynes, using a makeshift bat and a tennis ball to play cricket with several boys on the dirt playing field, Harvey spent about US$30,000 for cricket and other sporting equipments.

When asked why he did it, Harvey said: “They are back there playing with a stick and a ball. I can get them more than that.” 

“Look,” he amplified at a banquet later that evening, “Michael Jackson has a song named ‘Man in the Mirror’ and a line in the song says, ‘Who am I to pretend not to see their needs? That is important. When you see people struggling you can’t act like you don’t see them just because you go to your golf tournament that starts in two hours or you got a plane to catch.” 

Harvey said the Steve and Mary L Harvey Foundation, whose mission is “to serve the educationally and environmentally deprived,” plans to adopt five schools in Jamaica.

There it is folks: after all the posing and contrived speeches on a scorching day in Jamaica, goodwill stole the show. 

So I’ll tune in again next year for another episode. Same time. Same place.

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