BUT to take action to respond to repeated unfulfilled promises

By Emmanuel Joseph

Warning that the days of talking are over, the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) on Friday announced its intention to implement a plan of action in response to “years of unfulfilled promises” by education authorities.

While keeping the details of the course of action close to his chest, union president Rudy Lovell cautioned that people would just have to wait and see whether teachers represented by his union turn up for class at the Frederick Smith Secondary School next week.

Asked if there would be classes at the St James educational institution next week, he replied: “So says the Ministry of Education. I could only tell you what they say.”

Lovell was pressed further to specify if BUT members would be available to teach next week. He would only say: “Time will tell.”

Following hours of discussions during the day with ministry officials following the alleged sexual assault of a female student by a man who walked off the street, the sceptical BUT president said yet another commitment was made by the Government to improve the conditions at the school where a pupil was stabbed to death in November 2019.

“A commitment was given to address the concern of security. This commitment was given on two other occasions. You must be mindful that a student died at the school and promises were made back in 2019, November. The ministry also met with the staff of the school on March 10, 2023. Promises were made then also. There was a stabbing on the outside of the school sometime this year. Promises were made then and promises were made again today,” he told Barbados TODAY in an interview.

“If the issue of security in schools is not addressed, I fear that something worse may happen. There was an incident yesterday at a primary school that was utter chaos at the end of the school with some parents in a brawl. These things are not what we want to see in the educational system. What our adults do, our children tend to mimic. You could easily see why there would be chaos in our society in terms of the morals and values exhibited by our students,” Lovell added. “So we would want to have security in our schools that could mitigate against any threats or issues that would arise by not having them there.”

The union boss added: “We would like to see the fortunes of Frederick Smith Secondary School improved. As it stands now, the ministry has the opportunity to engender confidence in John Public by reforming Frederick Smith Secondary School. It is much easier to reform one school than to reform 21. And if they can’t get Frederick Smith Secondary School reformed, I don’t see how they can adequately reform the 21 secondary schools in Barbados.”

Lovell suggested that reform would entail addressing all of the issues that could help improve the teaching and learning process and the security issues that have been plaguing the school for many years.

Meanwhile, lecturer in educational leadership at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies Dr Ian Marshall is calling on the Ministry to give the principals, teachers, parents and students “some clear action plan to address the critical issues that are seriously eroding the confidence, morale and general satisfaction levels in our schools”.

“When we have incidents such as what occurred on Thursday at Frederick Smith Secondary, it is a clear sign that despite all the theatrics and optics, Rome is burning or the Titanic is sinking. For the sake of our nation’s children, I am therefore sending an SOS,” Dr Marshall told Barbados TODAY on Friday.

The tutor in Educational Management and Administration and Research Methods at the Erdiston Teachers Training College warned that Barbados could see an exodus of educators if the Government failed to fix problems in the system soon.

“Teachers and principals may not physically leave, but they may engage in what is known as presenteeism. A good starting point would be to appoint the many principals who have been acting for inordinately long periods,” the educational consultant advised.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb