DLP says Education Minister has nothing to show in three years

Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training Santia Bradshaw has been given a failing grade from the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) for her “dismal” performance over the past three years.

DLP officials, in a statement on Tuesday, said Bradshaw has been unsuccessful in addressing a number of burning issues affecting the education sector and called on her to take some time to “reflect” and urgently start national discussions on matters relating to the sector.

“There is much for the Minister to reflect on as the summer vacation begins and the DLP calls for her to urgently begin a national discourse on education,” the party said, as it pointed to Bradshaw’s recent call for Barbadians to use the recent Emancipation Day and Kadooment Day bank holidays as a time of reflection. “The Democratic Labour Party advises the good minister to take her own counsel.”

The DLP contended that Minister Bradshaw had failed to move education beyond where her predecessor, Ronald Jones, left it.

“She has failed to build a single school in three years, yet now is promising one on the eve of elections,” it said.

“Bradshaw was to replace the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination (BSSEE), presumably with something better. Three years later, nothing! She has failed to implement any changes at the secondary level to control the confusion surrounding the CXC examinations. Let us hope that the 2020 CXC fiasco will not repeat itself,” it added.

The political party said the COVID-19 pandemic could not be blamed for the failure in achieving promised changes in the education system since the current administration came to office at the end of May 2018.

“We are sure COVID-19 will be blamed for the dismal performance of Minister Bradshaw but the DLP will not accept any excuse for not one foundation being laid in three years to ease the pressure at our secondary schools. The pandemic cannot be blamed either for the new nursery school at Government Hill not being completed, a project started by the last administration,” it said.

“The DLP expected that with so much time available for reflection during the past two years that Minister Bradshaw would have utilized it to create what should have been a policy shift to remediate education at the secondary level, instead of focusing on a Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination. There was absolutely no need to write this exam so late as there would be little to no difference in the allocations of students based on their performance,” it added.

Speaking in the House of Assembly on Tuesday during debate on the Corporate (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021, Bradshaw, who is currently Acting Prime Minister, defended Government’s overall performance so far, saying the administration did not run out of steam.

While she was responding directly to concerns from Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley and not the DLP, Bradshaw insisted that the Mia Mottley-led administration was “not a government with a lot of long talk”, but said it was doing “a hell of a lot” despite the economic constraints.

Bradshaw, while also not making any specific reference to her Ministry, insisted that there was “a lot happening”, but added that all ministries needed more data and research to help with planning. (MM)