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Dr. Dan C. Carter
Last October, the Lester Vaughan Secondary School celebrated its 25th anniversary, identifying itself as the most recently established public secondary institution in Barbados. Of the 21 government secondary schools, there are 12 that were constructed after the nine traditional grammar schools, which this article seeks to highlight.
It is a remarkable achievement that of the 12 newer secondary schools, eight have each celebrated contributing more than 50 years to the development of education in Barbados, commencing with the St. Leonard’s Boys’ Secondary School and the St. Leonard’s Girls’ Secondary School in 1952. This development came about as there was a dire need for secondary school places in Barbados. The parents of the working class were demanding from their representatives an opportunity for their children to access secondary education.
These schools, over the last 70 years, have played a significant role in the human resource development of Barbados. Their numbers are felt within the public and private sectors, at our tertiary institutions and in several overseas endeavours. However, the development of these schools has not always been appreciated by the Barbadian public. They had been seen, first, as “glorified primary schools” as was the case in Britain, and then slowly, but agonisingly so, as institutions of learning capable of producing persons capable of contributing to the country’s human resources.
A case of parity
The most important development in the history of these schools came about with the proclamation of the Education Act of 1981. In introducing the Bill, the then Hon. Louis Tull, Minister of Education, said that he was about “to bite the bullet” and end “once and for all this disparity between the Older and Newer Secondary Schools”. He explained that the older grammar schools were supported by public finances, yet had their own schemes of government with executive authority, which allowed them to operate outside the power of the Ministry of Education. The Minister then sought to establish parity between the two systems of secondary school governance with the establishment of Boards of Management at all public secondary schools. Of equal importance was the fact that all such schools were to be designated “secondary schools”. This was a very progressive move on the part of the Minister.
Mr. Tull went further and standardised the salaries of teachers based on qualifications, at all public secondary schools. Secondly, the school year was made the same as regards the number of weeks. There was also the regularisation of salary as regards to posts at the level of Heads of Department. These changes, by way of ministerial prerogative and the Act, according to the Minister, should help to eliminate the inferiority felt by the new secondary schools. However, he was quick to point out that in trying to bring about equity in the system, that it was not his intention of “watering down, or diluting the standards in the older secondary schools”.
Former columnist and first Principal of Deighton Griffith, John Blackman, informed us of the continuing integration of the secondary system by reminding us that in 1984 the Conference of Head Teachers of the Newer Secondary amalgamated with the Association of Masters and Mistresses of the Older Secondary Schools to become the Barbados Association of Principals of Public Secondary Schools. Also, in 1985, students of both Newer and Older Secondary participated in the same athletics meeting. Mr. Blackman was proud to declare in 2012 that “there is no longer the gap, but an overlap with the Older”.
Education reform
The word “overlap” clearly suggests that something further needed to be done to complete the total integration of our public secondary stage of education. In order to effect this, I am purporting that with the government committed to educational reform that now is the time for action. I am therefore suggesting that the reform must ensure that the newer secondary schools be given a fairer share of the cognitive talent proceeding from the primary to the secondary. It is clear to me that these newer secondary schools have made a significant imprint on the educational system in all aspects of social and economic progress in Barbados.
There can be no doubt as to the administrative capacities of principals in these schools managing in excess of one thousand students. The teachers are eminently qualified, both at the level of teacher training and qualifications. The physical plants are in some cases superior to those of the older secondary schools. Moreover, they manage a curriculum that, in some cases, is even more diversified and appropriate to the needs of the children. There can no longer be any justification to send only the top students to the older schools and the rest to the newer schools. To do so would be to ignore the question of equity within the educational system.
Mr. Tull, the former Minister of Education, in his presentation some 40 years ago, charged that the dichotomy between the older and newer schools, was a perpetuation of “the thinking of the master slave mentality.” While there has been substantial narrowing of the gap, the public perception is still one that sees the newer secondary school as less efficient than the former grammar school. There is a need, therefore, for a re-look/restructuring of the Common Entrance Examination to ensure that the newer secondary schools receive their fair share of students transferring from the primary school.
One of the paradoxes of the present educational system is that some of the newer secondary schools now have sixth forms, yet their admissions from the primary schools is based purely on the existing CEE arrangement. Why can’t a school like Springer Memorial Secondary with a sixth form share the same quality or mix of student intake as the St. Michael School? The number of newer secondary schools with sixth forms now includes St. Leonard’s Boys and Ellerslie.
The former Education Minister, Ronald Jones, said that the introduction of sixth forms in these schools was not to create “competition” but rather to be “complimentary.” My point is that to operate at the sixth form level, there must be the requisite resources, both human and material, to satisfy this level of education. What therefore is ‘the great distinction’ between the newer schools with sixth forms and the older schools?
There can be no serious reform in education unless there is a greater integration between the newer and older schools based on a more equitable allocation of students from primary to secondary.
Dr. Dan C. Carter, educational historian and author.
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