I have noticed that the latest political football is free education, and I imagine that it's only because it is that issue which appeals most to every voter. First of all, it should be clarified that it was Antonnette Haughton's United People's Party (UPP) that first put the item on the agenda from the time the party was launched last year August, along with specific ideas on how it would be funded.

There is no doubt that parents are under great duress to find money to send their children to school, and even when they are able to muster up the fees and the seemingly growing "extra-curricular" school costs, they are hard-pressed to find the everyday lunch money, uniforms and books. So I am a proponent of free education.

It is clear to me, however, that there are even bigger problems facing the education system at this time, the most pressing being the quality of the education, and the commitment of those who deliver it.

There is no point packing our children into classrooms where the quality of education is so poor that it becomes counterproductive. That is in large part the reality of many of our schools today. A large number of these schools, particularly the ones in the poorest communities, are little more than 'holding compounds', where children already academically and socially disadvantaged, are placed in the hands of unmotivated and even abusive teachers, and where moral and academic stimulation are virtually non-existent.

This is regrettable, since it is our schools that hold the key to the future of this country. The fact is that even under severe stress, parents, whether good or bad, make every effort to send their children to school; in fact, Jamaica has an extremely high rate of school attendance. This means that our schools have the opportunity that no other entity has, not even the home.

Our schools have virtually all of our children for more than seven hours every day, five days a week, in a "closed" environment, and this must be seen as a huge advantage to positively impact their lives. Not only should our schools be providing first-class education, but they should be the vanguards of moral education, and the instillers of good values and attitudes.

I'm afraid this idea is anathema to many schools. I have visited schools where on a given day several teachers are absent, so students simply walk around aimlessly, where school canteens at lunchtime become battlegrounds as students fight to be served lunch; where students are absent from class because they are asked to braid teachers' hair, and the list goes on and on.

Rogue teachers

What I have observed in all these schools is that there always exists a group of whom I call 'rogue teachers' who "run" things, and are accountable to no one, not even the principal.

It is imperative that the Ministry of Education not only ensures serious accountability and oversight, but that it introduces as a matter of urgency, a values curriculum in our schools.

There is a famous quote that says, "to educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society", and that is precisely what is going on in our schools. Values education must run across every subject, and should also involve the display of positive messages throughout the physical plant. The only way to effectively change behaviour is through constant reinforcement and repetition. What will happen as a result of this, is that the children will begin to positively impact their parents.

But a values curriculum will be futile if teachers do not understand their role as models and mentors. I believe it is time to begin weeding out the good teachers from the bad; that we find the means to adequately reward the good ones as well as provide incentives and on-going training, and then simply ask the bad ones to leave the classroom.

It is imperative that our teacher's colleges concentrate just as heavily on the sociological aspects of the classroom as they do on the pedagogy. Trainee teachers must be exposed to mentoring education, as well as the characteristics of adolescent behaviour before entering the classroom, and then, some type of support system must be put in place for teachers after that, to ensure mutually beneficial results.