PHILIPSBURG:--- The question of the return on investment (ROI) for study financing in St. Maarten is not just a matter of numbers—it’s a matter of national integrity. What are we telling our young people when we encourage them to pursue higher education, only to leave them stranded in a job market that seems to favor foreign hires over local talent? This is not just a policy failure; it’s a betrayal of the very people we claim to invest in.
Minister Heyliger-Marten’s recent remarks about the inadequacy of St. Maarten’s budget underscore the systemic issues plaguing the island. With a national budget of 530 million guilders, the government is attempting to run a country on financial fumes. Education, which should be the cornerstone of our future, receives a mere 120 million guilders—hardly enough to address the needs of our schools, let alone provide meaningful opportunities for our graduates. Justice and Public Health are similarly underfunded, with 107 million and 97 million guilders, respectively. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport, and Telecommunication (TEATT)—the backbone of our economy—operates on a paltry 22 million guilders, with only 4 million allocated for marketing the country.
The numbers paint a grim picture, but the real tragedy lies in the human cost. Our young professionals, many of whom have taken on loans to finance their education, return to an island that offers them little more than broken promises. Job fairs are held, but who are we recruiting? Certainly not the local talent that the government has invested in. Instead, high-paying positions are increasingly filled by foreigners, leaving our own people to wonder why they were encouraged to study in the first place.
Minister Heyliger-Marten has called for a significant cash injection—at least 200 to 250 million guilders annually—to address these issues. But even this may not be enough if the underlying priorities remain unchanged. As the Minister herself pointed out, the current budget framework is not aligned with the government’s vision. Without a comprehensive overhaul, we are merely rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship.
The situation is further exacerbated by a lack of corporate governance. Key positions in government entities are being filled without proper adherence to established protocols, raising questions about transparency and accountability. This is not just a financial issue; it’s a moral one. How can we expect our young people to trust a system that seems to work against them at every turn?
The government’s failure to provide adequate opportunities for its citizens is not just a policy oversight; it’s a crisis of leadership. If we continue to underfund critical sectors and prioritize foreign hires over local talent, we are effectively telling our young people that their education—and their future—does not matter. This is a message that no government should ever send.
It’s time for St. Maarten to take a hard look at its priorities. We cannot continue to ask our young people to invest in their education if we are not willing to invest in them. The ROI on study financing should not be measured in guilders but in the opportunities, we create for our citizens. Until we align our budget with our values, we will remain stuck in a cycle of underperformance and broken promises.
The question remains: What are we telling our young people? The answer, for now, is painfully clear—and it’s not one we should be proud of.
