Postpone common entrance, CXC sitting – BUT

With the country moving into another full-scale lockdown, the head of one teachers’ trade union has suggested the Minister of Education defer the Barbados Secondary Schools Entrance Examination (BSSEE) and the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC)’s May/June sitting.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY, President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Pedro Shepherd declared on Friday the union wants realistic targets set for the remainder of the school year, as a gruelling second wave of COVID-19 keeps students away from their physical classrooms.

Students have lost almost a year of “proper” teaching owing to inadequate infrastructure for online instruction, he declared.

Shepherd said many students lack devices, several are simply refusing to show up for online class and others lacking supervision are being disruptive.

He said: “I have said from the outset of this pandemic that we might need to suspend the entire school year. We are now eleven months into the pandemic and have we seen any letting up of the spread of this virus?  No, rather we are seeing increasing numbers of cases and variants to this disease.

“While I accept that our students must be educated and our teachers must educate them, it is my unblemished opinion based on what I hear from my colleagues and witness for myself that both the BSSEE and CXC examinations should be deferred. We have literally lost a year of proper schooling.  Why are we forcing the issue?”

Education Minister Santia Bradshaw on Thursday declared that while educators have acknowledged the difficulty of the moment, they have also committed to keeping students in an online environment during the 15-day shutdown period.

Bradshaw also revealed that as her ministry attempts to get 9,000 devices imported, it is also outsourcing laptops, tablets and MiFi dongles for teachers and students to continue their classes.

“Many of the devices have already been distributed to the ITCs which we’ve had to configure,” said the education minister. We have a couple more coming into the island. Over the course of the next few days, and certainly, during the lockdown, the anticipation is that we will have all the devices configured and be able to distribute to students and teachers who may not have devices.”

Bradshaw is said to have not ruled out a full-scale repeat of the current academic year but is awaiting word from civil servants on the level of progress made in covering this year’s syllabus.

The BUT president admitted there are more students online now than when online teaching first started last March but said he is concerned about the levels of absenteeism

Shepherd told Barbados TODAY: “I am not sure of the exact numbers but I think it is significant enough for us to be worried that even though ample devices have been distributed by the government, students are still not availing themselves for classes.

“Of course, some might have legitimate excuses, but we are seeing patterns where some students are not coming online for days.  We still have some who were issued devices and who have not been online since September last year.

“Some students continue to be disruptive in classes, but we have found the remedy for those who don’t want to learn and who obviously are not being supervised by an adult. As for those who are distracted by the environment in which they are operating I am not sure what can be done, but teachers are speaking to parents and guardians on all of these issues.”

(kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb)