By Shermaine Joseph-Barnwell
Following my previous article, “Unequal Foundations of Educational Inclusion in SVG”, which outlines the history of Inclusive education in our country, recent headlines have renewed public attention to the concept of the “Education Revolution”. Here, I allude to the senator who publicly distanced himself from ever being a product of it. Pragmatically, I understand the senator to be invoking a widely publicised narrative in which education was framed as a benevolent gift to “poor people”, from “De Comrade” of the Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration.
While I recognise the senator’s intent to faithfully assert personal privilege by stating that through the diligence and capacity of his parents, he did require state-supported educational assistance designated for marginalised groups, this framing is ultimately detrimental to serious education policy discourse in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In a nation that relies heavily on public investment and state-supported educational infrastructure, narratives that position education as charity, partisan benefits, or political branding obscure the structural and historical realities of educational development. More importantly, they distort public understanding of what education systems require to function equitably and sustainably.
In this article, I seek to demonstrate that the former ULP’s version of the “Education Revolution” was simply an awareness campaign of a national political initiative, and not the origin of the global theory of a revolution in education that achieves universal access to education. I further argue that conflating party-led initiatives with global educational revolutions entrenches the politicisation of education and weakens inclusive policy development in any country.
National policy, party policy, and the politics of educational narratives
First, it is important to distinguish between national policy and party policy. National policy refers to legally mandated frameworks, protocols, standards, and institutional structures enacted through legislative processes, public administration systems, and regulatory mechanisms. Whereas, national policies are binding on all citizens and institutions, regardless of political affiliation, and they persist beyond electoral cycles.
Party policy, by contrast, refers to the ideological vision, campaign promises, and programmatic priorities articulated by political parties. Party policies may inform national policy, but they are not inherently legislative or binding unless translated into formal legal frameworks. The former ULP’s “Education Revolution” functioned primarily as a political vision and awareness campaign, with a strong focus on poverty alleviation and expanded access. While socially viable and aligned with international global reform, this campaign still did not constitute the origin of universal access theory. In fact, UNESCO’s 2023 SVG Education Reviews reveals education reform has not fully implemented inclusive laws for equity dimensions like disability, gender, and digital access, as mandated by the UN’s 2025 Millennium Development Goals Agenda. Notably, this project coincided with the party’s 25-year tenure, regrettably highlighting a missed opportunity for true and sustainable reform.
The distinction above matters deeply in Caribbean political culture. In highly partisan environments, policies aligned with specific parties often face automatic opposition and resistance, not because of their substantive content, but because of their political branding. When education reforms are perceived as “party projects”, compliance becomes interpreted as political support, and non-compliance becomes political resistance. Citizens, teachers, administrators, and institutions may perceive their participation as “working for the party” rather than working for the people. Therefore, when legislative frameworks and protocols are not clearly established and communicated, education policy becomes performative rather than institutional. Performance becomes symbolic allegiance rather than legal obligation, and policy outcomes become contingent on political loyalty rather than public service.
Education revolution versus universal access theory
To reiterate, the concept of an education revolution predates any Caribbean political administration. Its theoretical origins lie in Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of Liberation, which conceptualised education as a tool for humanisation, emancipation, and structural transformation. In the 1970s, UNESCO was tasked by the United Nations to operationalise universal access to education, particularly for historically marginalised populations including poor communities, Black populations, girls, and persons with disabilities. Universal access was not merely about building schools or increasing enrolment. It was a civilisational mandate to dismantle structural barriers to participation in knowledge, voice, and social transformation.
As a millennial, the senator is therefore not only a product of the global education revolution as formalised by UNESCO, but also a child of the Information Age, in which digital technologies and the World Wide Web was part of the exponential expansion of access to knowledge, learning platforms, and global intellectual participation. To this I say, Congratulations Sir on achieving not only a personal feat affording economic mobility; but congratulations in your deliberate pursuit of higher consciousness. This is how societies evolve ethically, intellectually, and culturally. It is how humanity reflects, critiques, and transforms itself. Success stories such as the Senator’s and “poor, little Black, boys and girls” matter, not as political trophies, but as reminders of what universal education makes possible. These stories are not victories for governments; they are victories for humanity as they represent the continuation of a centuries-long struggle to ensure that knowledge is not hoarded by the powerful as a tool of population control, but shared with all for social sustainability.
Universal access as the Foundation of Student-Centred Pedagogy
To understand inclusive education, is important to understand Freire’s vision of universal access. Not only did his theory transform who could enter classrooms, it transformed how classrooms function. From Freire’s liberation pedagogy emerged student-centred teaching, dialogic learning, inquiry-based pedagogy, and experiential education. His theory rejected the traditional banking model of education in which teachers deposit knowledge into passive students. He argued that such systems domesticate the oppressed and reproduce social hierarchies. In contrast, student-centred and dialogic approaches treat learners as co-creators of knowledge who reflect on their lived realities and participate in transforming them. Educational inclusion, therefore, is not only physical access to schools. It is epistemic inclusion in meaning-making, critical inquiry, and social agency. Student-centred pedagogy is the pedagogical expression of universal access in practice. Basically, without universal access, there is no foundation for student-centred learning.
Politicisation of education in global historical systems
The Coloniality of Education in Art and Humanities
Education has long been politicised but did not emerge from a single ideology, nation, or political party. It emerged from centuries of struggle against feudalism, imperialism, colonialism, and class stratification. Colonial education systems privileged Eurocentric epistemologies and excluded diverse cultural, racial, gendered, and embodied knowledge systems. Art and humanities curricula historically centred white, heterosexual, able-bodied male narratives. Inquiry-based and experiential learning emerged partly as resistance to these epistemic hierarchies, enabling marginalised voices and lived experiences to enter academic spaces.
In the Caribbean, literary and cultural studies reforms sought to validate Caribbean voices, languages, and histories within formal curricula.
Decolonisation of education in the Caribbean and Global South
Within the education discourse of the Commonwealth, Decolonisation movements led to the creation of regional examination bodies such as the Caribbean Examinations Council and institutions such as The University of the West Indies. These institutions dismantled colonial gatekeeping in assessment, accreditation, and research. Specifically in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, expanded access to secondary schooling, teacher training colleges, scholarships, and distance learning programmes represent collective post-colonial achievements supported by regional and global frameworks. These are not partisan achievements but structural transformations within a global knowledge economy.
Deterritorialisation of education in New Zealand and Scotland
Once again, even across continents, deterritorialisation movements recognised indigenous knowledge systems and relational intelligence as legitimate epistemologies. This global shift parallels Caribbean efforts to validate indigenous, African diasporic, and community-based knowledge traditions within formal education systems. Across these contexts, the objective was consistent: that is, dismantle obsolete structures that barred access to participation in knowledge production.
Education and political agendas: a structural tension
To state the problem outright, is to acknowledge that Education and political agendas are structurally in tension. Education cultivates critical consciousness, civic reasoning, and the capacity to question power. Political systems, on the other hand, often seek stability, legitimacy, and control. Thus, when education becomes politicised, its emancipatory function is compromised. Especially in the Caribbean, partisan cultures and politically branded education policies risk automatic opposition, reduced compliance, and symbolic participation. With this approach frameworks are not institutionalised through legislation or protocol, instead education reforms are seen instead as ideological projects rather than public infrastructure. Unfortunately, perception significantly hampers inclusion, as teachers, administrators, and citizens may disengage from reforms viewed as partisan, weakening policy impact and educational results. The caveat to that is, unsuccessful projects do not result in visibly dilapidated infrastructure but instead lead to deteriorating minds, with crime and social issues as the trickle-down effects.
Call to action: reclaiming education as a human project
SVG relies heavily on public education infrastructure and regional institutional frameworks. Universal secondary education, regional accreditation, digital learning platforms, and teacher professional development reflect collective regional and global achievements. These developments were not produced by a single party or leader. They emerged from post-colonial collaboration, global policy mandates, and technological transformation. It is time we as Vincentians recognise that Education does not belong to political parties or popular personalities. Instead, it is a human project rooted in centuries of struggle against exclusion, domination, and epistemic injustice. Misunderstanding the history of Education risks re-politicising access, participation, and knowledge itself.
The de-politicising of education does not mean removing politics from policy. It means recognising education as a public good that transcends electoral cycles and partisan identity. It means establishing legislative frameworks, protocols, and institutional accountability that outlive political administrations. When education is framed as party property, inclusion becomes conditional, compliance becomes ideological, and policy becomes symbolic. When education is framed as the collective responsibility of all Vincentians to build a progressive and civilised society, then inclusion becomes structural, compliance becomes legal and ethical, and policy becomes transformative.
To be clear, education is not a political trophy where the successes of children are tokenised for political leverage and reproach. Education must remain a higher calling to human consciousness and cohesion, a necessary facet in social development, and societal empathy. Hence, the future of inclusive education in SVG depends on our ability to renounce former political brainwashing and reclaim the revolution in education as such.
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