The education system in Barbados seems to be slipping further into crisis and my biggest fear is that as we pause to have the yearly furore over Common Entrance results, we are missing the bigger picture. I also saw a comment attributed to the Minister of Education in the press recently; if the quote is accurate, it is an unfortunate one.
The children who attend private school are those whose families have the means to support them with their educational journey. Many not only go to private school but also get extra lessons and other types of enriching activities. Parental involvement in their lives is optimal. Research has shown over and over that those are some of the major factors for children to excel in formal education.
Additionally, the learning environment at private school is a lot different from that in many public primary schools. The issues of overcrowding do not occur. Toilets and facilities are suitable and there are different approaches to supporting and managing students. Thus, the different results in the different spaces are not hard to understand or account for. Based on the way that public education is structured currently, it is a downright unfair comparison to juxtapose private and public schools.
Not only is the comparison unfair, it is simplistic. The success of the educational system cannot be continuously measured by how many children get into five schools with a well-documented colonial past. There are many more places at schools that were established during the nationalist era where educational opportunities were expanded. In order to get an accurate measure of the educational system, can we only keep tabs on what is the top elite section?
Can we only gauge the performances by focusing year after year on Common Entrance results? What becomes of the children who are celebrated at Common Entrance? Do we know where the ‘top boys and girls’ end up by University? What about those children who gain passes for less prestigious institutions? What is their learning curve and experience?
If we begin to do this type of analysis in our school system, we may be surprised by what it turns up. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that more students from sixth form schools are opting to complete studies at the Barbados Community College. They report that they find the transition to University easier after completing the associate degree programme.
This suggests that while we put the premium on getting to a sixth form school, the offerings at these institutions wane at some point that makes the very children we fuss over opt out of sixth form schools. Further, if we examine the performance at University, students from mid-tier schools such as Alexandra and Coleridge and Parry seem to perform well not only at undergraduate level but also in graduate studies.
I think it is time for us to include a complete research department in the Ministry of Education focused only on conducting educational research for policy and decision-making purposes. We spend the second highest budget allotment yearly on education. This is years now that we have not been getting our money’s worth. We cannot continue to do the same thing in the same way.
The Minister of Education is alleged to have said that she remains concerned that the private schools are outdoing the public schools. There is no mystery as to why private schools are doing better than public schools. It is an issue of resource and environment.
Looking more broadly at education, I am also not quite comfortable with the way we are handling the COVID-19 pandemic. After having persecuted a Rastafarian family for homeschooling their children in a very public and dogmatic way, the Ministry now announces that homeschooling is an option for the 2020/2021 school year.
There has not been any articulation about what will be the minimum requirements for homeschooling or whether the application process to the Ministry will be relaxed. There are several more questions that have been left unanswered than answered. Since COVID-19 will be with us for at least another year or so without a vaccination, I think we have to have a clearer plan on education moving forward.
The system has been in limbo for some time well and COVID-19 has exacerbated it. The only comment left in my mind after each year of the Common entrance is that to do the same thing over and over but expect a different result is the definition of insanity.
Marsha Hinds is the President of the National Organisation of Women
