No assistance requested – Gov’t

There is no immediate plan on the part of the government to assist private primary and/or secondary schools whose financial stability is being tested by the pandemic.

Minister of Education Kay McConney said this is because the ministry has not been formally approached or data been collected on the extent to which such institutions have been affected.

“The ministry has not been formally approached by others, so if you have gotten information, then I will ask you to speak with them because we have not been formally approached,” Minister McConney told Barbados TODAY.

“We would have to sit down and have a conversation as to what is required. Different institutions have different concerns and therefore we will have to start with where the institutions are, what their concerns are and be able to work accordingly,” she added.

The minister’s comments follow an announcement from administrators of the 128-year old Ursuline Convent that the institution would cease to exist beyond August next year.

Since the announcement, Barbados TODAY spoke with private school administrators across the country, who not only expressed “heartbreak” at the closure of the convent, but warned that others could follow unless the government intervenes to assist.

Some noted that in the face of economic instability over the last two years parents have been pulling their children out of private schools and enrolling them in the government-funded public system.

Minister McConney said discussions on whether there were enough spaces in the public system to absorb the increasing numbers would require “data and specific statistics”. But she expects the private system to continue to thrive.

“Barbados has always had an education landscape that has had many different options, both a public and a private option and certainly we see the education landscape continuing to have private and public options for all students at all different levels,” said Minister McConney.
(KS)