THE Student Loan Bureau’s (SLB’s) interest rate regime has been heavily criticised by former insurance executive R Danny Williams at a public forum discussing the funding of education in Kingston Friday.

The reintroduction of cost sharing, more job opportunities for tertiary students, funding from overseas employers and the Diaspora, and a special bond for education, were among the suggestions made at the forum staged by the National Council on Education at the Holy Cross Church Hall in Half-Way-Tree.

But issues of performance-based pay for teachers, the role of parenting and the length of the school year also emerged as participants grappled with whether Jamaica was getting value for money from its investment in education.

“I think what is happening at the SLB is ridiculous. It’s a disgrace, as far as I am concerned,” said the outspoken Williams, who is board chairman of Jamaica College, a leading all-male high school.

Stating that the SLB’s interest rate of 12 per cent add-on would mean that a loan would double in seven years, Williams said it was onerous for students to borrow at such rates and be expected to repay on time. SLB repayments should be calculated on the reducing balance and on graduates’ earnings, he suggested.

Williams also supported calls from other stakeholders for the reintroduction of cost sharing, the system under which parents pay a small portion of high school tuition costs.

“A lot of people are getting a free ride,” he said of former preparatory school children who pay less than $20,000 per year in auxiliary fees to attend high school.

Supporting the reform of the SLB, president of the University of the West Indies, Mona guild of students Jovaughn Neil said a record 900 students at the campus were non-compliant with their fees because of increased costs and a cut in government subsidy.

Financial analyst Dennis Chung challenged the 2004 Task Force on education report, stating there was no correlation between Jamaica’s spending on education and productivity.

He noted that Jamaica spends 6.5 per cent of its gross domestic product on education compared with the Dominican Republic which spends a mere 1.8 per cent, yet the Dominican Republic has higher productivity than Jamaica.

Vice-president of finance and industries at Northern Caribbean University Danieto Murray called on government to develop education infrastructure and to pay private entities such as the church to operate schools. He also called for work-study programmes such as the Jamaica Values and Attitudes Project for Tertiary Students to be expanded to enable students to fund their education while providing them with work experience.

Former chief education officer in the Ministry of Education Jasper Lawrence urged the closure of some smaller schools in order to improve others.

“When you look at the grade four literacy and numeracy results there are some institutions which are not viable. They need to be rationalised much like banks to consolidate resources and get value for money,” he said.

He also called for more State investment at the early childhood level to achieve improved education outcomes. Countries such as Cuba, and Canada which invested heavily in early childhood education were now reaping the benefits at the higher levels of education, he noted.