Deeply concerning! Gov’t spending less on education each year
One administrator in the Ministry of Education, Youth Affairs and Sports recently made a strong case for the territory’s education system, begging the government to replace funds it has taken away.
The administrator — Director of Planning in the Education Ministry, Jillian Douglas-Phillip — made the plea in a recent Standing Finance Committee meeting where civil servants and elected leaders assessed the territory’s proposed budget for this year.
She said education has critical issues that won’t be addressed with the allocation that is given in the 2024 budget. During that meeting, the leader pointed out that several years ago, the budget for education was 18% of the national budget.
But she said this commitment has waned with time. In 2023, the budget for the Education Ministry was 14% of the national budget and for 2024, the allocated budget is currently at 11.69%, totalling $54,174,200.
She told elected leaders that this continuous decrease in budget allocation is a source of deep concern as educators are dealing with new challenges and opportunities that demand sustained financial support.
She appealed for the government to at least maintain the funding budgeted in 2023 and begged for an additional $4,784,720. She added that this funding is essential to ensure the effective delivery of programmes and initiatives.
Douglas-Phillip also shared a number of programmes that need to be funded and vacancies that need to be filled in order for the BVI to meet the educational demands.
After elected leaders heard the case from Douglas-Phillip, Deputy Premier Lorna Smith said she hoped the Education Ministry would be able to get some of what they were seeking. But the Minister asked if there was a lower figure the Ministry would accept if they weren’t able to get over $4 million they were seeking.
In response Douglas-Phillip frankly said they were asking for the lower amount and added that the Ministry really needed more money. She said if her ministry were to ask for what is truly needed, they would probably be put out of this room.
It is still unclear whether the Education Ministry got the additional sums they requested as this was not reflected in the minutes of the Standing Finance meeting.
But in recent times, teachers and parents have been calling for the government to invest more in education as the territory is doing a disservice to the children who need it most.
The government has maintained that it is doing it’s best to fill the gaps in education with the tight budgetary constraints facing the territory.
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The MoE should be ashamed of herself for allowing this to happen. Best she resign now.
Why should she resign when nothing in her background indicated that she was ready to take on such high level job; yet we went out in numbers to elect her. Well we have to deal with the poor quality of education….
I agree the MOE should indeed be ashamed of herself as instead of “jet setting” around the world and absent while standing finance was going on said individual should have been present and advocating for the necessary funds for the Ministry of education. When will we stop failing our children??
No surprise. This is what’s happening and then when you invest heavily in your business they want to force you to hire the young people who they refuse to adequately prepare for the next level of life. We are failing our people terribly!!
I would like to point out that the information presented here is false and appears to be a form of propaganda. Douglas-Phillip should be ashamed of herself for allowing the minister to make her look bad. Anyone can review the Government’s budgets online and the numerous SAPs passed each year to verify that Education receives a significant portion of government funding annually. The statement about reductions is false. The real question here is how much of the funding Education receives is being spent. The main issue lies in the absence of proper planning and prioritization within the Ministry of Education and the government overall.
In addition, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and the Department of Culture were recently removed under the Ministry of Education. The overall budget for the Ministry of Education would have been reduced as a result. Agriculture’s annual budget is approximately $2M, and the Department of Culture, under which the grant to festivals and fairs is paid, is approximately $1.5M annually. The Minister and her team are grasping at straws, attempting to mislead the public. What I find most interesting about all this is that the budget presented is presumably the budget for the government of the day, of which the Minister of Education, Sport, and Travel is a part.
As long as we have this government in power we are not going forward Natalio Wheatley is to wrapped up in himself and don’t have the drive to do better and the rest of his government are bunch of clowns so as far as I see it the head clown is leading the other clown to nowhere. HE IS A BIG CRY BABY
3,2,1…. it’s the governors fault. It’s apartheid. It’s colonialism. It’s racism.
They spend less cause the find out that drugs don’t kill dreams…it makes good money
The big entitled families (politicians) send their kids to private schools so why should they be concerned
An under educated population is easier to manipulate. An educated population is more likely to question politicians motives and actions.
Don’t spend money on education we need to raise idiots so we have plenty of candidates for future elections.