BAS head pleads for shift in half-term break to accommodate students at Agrofest

Organisers of Agrofest 2023 are appealing to the Ministry of Education to shift the midterm break from February 23 to 24 to allow school children to attend the island’s annual premier agriculture exposition with their teachers.

This year’s exhibition will be held from February 24 to 26 which will coincide with the dates students and teachers would be on midterm break.

However, during a site visit in Queen’s Park on Wednesday,

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Barbados Agricultural Society James Paul said it was customary for schools to visit the exhibition on the Friday, the first day of the event.

“I am appealing now to the Ministry of Education, please, if you are going to help Agrofest or support our agriculture, let that break happen in another two days because we rely on the teachers to bring those children down to the park on the Friday. “If those teachers are not available to bring those children, those children will not come because sometimes that is the only time those children can come. I am really appealing to the Ministry of Education don’t take the break on the 24th, let them come, and take it another time,” he said.

Paul argued that given the interest young people have been showing in the agriculture sector, school children benefit significantly from attending the exhibition for exposure to different aspects of the industry.

“The truth is that it is important for those school children to see what is happening in agriculture and to get some excitement from it,” Paul said.

Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw could not be immediately reached for comment.

Paul also indicated that there would be limited spaces available at Agrofest this year, since organisers have decided not to utilise the adjacent Weymouth playing field.

He said this is why persons interested in plying their trade at the exhibition should make it known early.

Declining to state exactly how many exhibitors would be facilitated this year, Paul said the deadline to apply for a space would be January 15.

“We might have some challenges in terms of space really because we want to bring it back into Queen’s Park because one of the things that we are noticing is that sometimes all exhibitors who attend the show were not benefiting in the same way.

Paul stressed that organisers would be on the lookout for creative exhibitors. He suggested that it was time for the University of the West Indies (UWI) to play a vital role at the exhibition.

“I think they need to demonstrate more, besides putting up buildings, a greater commitment to our agricultural sector and to come and exhibit here in Queen’s Park and be among the people.

“At the end of the day, the idea of agriculture doesn’t come from on high. It is ordinary people who are investing their money that they should be working with at these types of exhibits.”

Indicating that the Ministry of Health continued to play an important role in the staging of the event, Paul announced that once again, this year, food vendors seeking to ply their trade at Agrofest would be required to attend a food handlers workshop where they will be reminded about what they need to do in order to ensure that they can deliver safe, clean, healthy foods to those Barbadians who would be attending Agrofest.
(AH)