Public school principals appear to be ready and eager to return to face-to-face classes under conditions that are not solely contingent on the vaccine status of teachers, students and others present on the school campus.
However, outgoing President of the Association of Public Primary School Principals (APPSP), Dr Hyacinth Harris is concerned about an apparent lack of planning from the Ministry of Education for matters of importance, including the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination.
In her final speech, the president also demanded that outstanding human resources issues like the non-payment of acting principals and an inadequate clerical staff at primary, nursery and special schools receive urgent attention.
Addressing the association’s biennial conference, Dr Harris explained that apart from discussions about vaccine status, there needs to be a concerted effort to assess each school based on its unique characteristics when considering face-to-face reopening that is tentatively planned for January 2022.
“As we begin to consider the future of education, we must conceive that teaching and learning in the online environment cannot be sustained. The time is right for officials to begin to focus on returning students to the school plant in as safe an environment as possible,” Dr Harris declared at the well attended virtual conference.
“Attention must be given to the capacity of schools, the allocation of human and physical resources, and the distribution of student and teacher populations among the various groups. Thinking and acting along these lines must occur sooner rather than later,” she added.
The veteran educator further challenged the Ministry of Education to roll out a comprehensive plan for next year’s sitting of the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination.
“One cannot deny that having had the experience of 2020, the administrators of national education in Barbados have had adequate time to determine how students will be transferred from primary to secondary schools. Yet, here we are in November 2021 and principals are unsure of how they should proceed with regard to preparations for the 2022 examinations and this examination is traditionally held in May,” the APPSP president charged.
“Functioning without that goal post is not ideal for principals, teachers, students, nor parents. A clear decision needs to be made regarding possible dates for the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination. Alternatively, having repeatedly stated that the examination should be abolished, it is time to indicate what will be the replacement, how it will be structured and which cohort of students will be affected first,” she added.
Dr Harris also revealed that the mental fatigue of COVID-19 pandemic has been exacerbated by the ministry’s failure to engage principals on a number of basic HR matters.
“No principal should be asked to act in a post and not be paid the requisite salary,” she declared.
“Throughout the past year and as recent as last month, the association received numerous complaints from principals who had started acting as far back as 2020 and a few even before then, who had never once been paid a cent at that grade level.
“After intervention from APPSS, there was then a mad scramble to rectify the situation. My understanding is that the process for payment of these salaries has started but this situation is untenable and every effort should be made to ensure that it is discontinued,” Dr Harris added.
Another issue of concern is the apparent reluctance to provide primary, nursery and special schools with clerical staff, which the outgoing APPSP president described as baffling.
“Perhaps, the reluctance may be attributed to the fact that even with the lack of clerical assistance, we as principals have been trying to cope and we have acceded to the ad-hoc requests that are sometimes forthcoming,” she said.
On the other hand, the outgoing president has commended efforts to clean up the physical compounds of schools.
“Of course we are aware that the response to some extent with regard to the debushing of the school compounds and the cleaning of the buildings was largely precipitated by the negative effects from the eruption of the St Vincent La Soufriere Volcano and the unexpected storms in April and June respectively,” she said.
“Nevertheless, the conscious effort to clean the grounds and the buildings was much appreciated. The response from the ministry clearly demonstrates that the matter of cleaning schools does not have to be so burdensome and protracted.”
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb
