I disagree that the education system in the Caribbean is responsible for the brain drain

Apr 27, 2019 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

I refer to a letter by Glenville Remy captioned ‘BRAIN DRAIN: The continued stigma in the Caribbean’ and published in your April 4, 2019 edition
I disagree that the education system in the Caribbean is the cause of the brain drain.
The brain drain is caused by the Caribbean not providing the standard of living to professionals that the developed countries do.
Educated people see the world as their domain and have the mobility to make a living wherever they choose and that choice is usually based on desired standard of living. The Caribbean countries need to, initially, make a conscious and blatant effort to pamper professional with contributions equitable to an international standard of living by ensuring that they have comparable housing, transportation, safety, health care etc.
In short, the Caribbean governments and private companies have to make a conscious effort to compete for Caribbean workers who could be desirable to developed countries.
Contrary to what Glenville is saying, the developed countries are also stealing blue collar workers. Check the New York Transit authority workforce for the high percentage of Guyanese and other Caribbean nationals there. That began in the 1970s. Check Toronto for the significant number of Guymine Trade School graduates.
The Canadian ministry responsible for immigration used to be called the Ministry of Immigration and Manpower. What does that tell you? When I went to the consulate office in Georgetown for my interview for Canada, the Canadian officer had in her hand a list of professional skills that they needed. She looked at my qualifications against her list and said “electrical engineer, we need you” and promptly stamped “approved” on the application. The entire interview lasted about 10 minutes.
I, for one, would not have left Guyana if I did not have to walk three miles 4 times a day for work, and the same distance with young kids for social and/or shopping purposes. I also had a fair salary, but could not find adequate groceries in the stores. The list goes on….
Again, contrary to what Glenville said, the government of Guyana, Guymine and Guysuco did train Guyanese in fields required by the country and industries.
Indeed, the Guymine Trade School and Port Mourant Training Centre were feeder trade schools for the bauxite and sugar industries respectively.
The scholarship programs by these industries to train scholars to the professional level were also geared for feeding the local companies. However, as I said before, you cannot train someone to a trade or professional level and expect them to not want to live at an international middle or upper middle class level.
Back in the 70’s and early 80’s there were no TVs in Guyana. Therefore it was not as easy for Guyanese at home to see the standard of living in developed countries. However those same scholars were trained in countries where their peers enjoyed the higher standard of living. Also, people have always travelled back and forth to the US, Canada and the UK. Television in Guyana has only exacerbated the situation.
Unfortunately, the system I am proposing will make the existing class system in the Caribbean more pronounced. However, it will also, inadvertently, create an incentive system for children to pay more attention to becoming trades people and professionals. Linden always was a microcosm of such a system. It was a company town and the professionals lived in special upper middle class subdivisions in the exclusive south of town.
The professional (staff) quarters were furnished, had hot water, servant quarters, a golf course, security, a cinema, exclusive elementary school and a community swimming pool. The non-professional employees and their families lived in the northern part of town. Ambitious youths in the north (including me at that time) always aspired to live like the folks did in south Mackenzie. It is the reason why per capita, Linden has produced more Guyanese engineers than any other part of Guyana.
No more communist “From each according to his ability. To each according to his needs.” Let’s return to “From each according to his ability. To each according to his works.”
Today, Caribbean governments and private companies there must blatantly and directly take action to compete for this internationally mobile Caribbean talent. If their offers are competitive, these local employers have the inside edge on hiring and retaining this talent. All things being equal, people prefer to live in their own culture. Even now, with the emerging oil industry in Guyana, I do not see any effort by the government of Guyana to attract and repatriate Guyanese from the diaspora.
We have oil men that have worked for the largest oil companies in the world. We have power plant engineers and managers (a Jamaican runs the Guyana power system). We have electrical engineers, engineering project managers, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, trades men etc. At least Burnham had the “back home call”, but because of the economic crisis with food shortages etc. he could not retain the qualified Guyanese professionals that returned home in significant numbers.
Gerry King

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