A former president of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) is querying the pace of work being done in education reform.
Speaking at the DLP’s St Philip South branch meeting on Sunday night, Pedro Shepherd questioned why it had taken so long for the consultations on education reform to start and the preparation of a final report on the matter.
An Education Reform Committee was set up in 2019, chaired by Dr Idamay Denny who then went on to head the Education Reform Unit set up in 2021.
“Whilst I understand that there has to be a process to completing a report and submitting, my concern is really the pace at which the department is moving and the cost that we the taxpayers are paying with regards to this report,” Shepherd said.
“We are already going nowhere with this report. By now we should know what the state of the common entrance examination is, including the transition from primary to secondary school. We should have some information on curriculum reform, teacher training, teacher qualifications, teaching standards, our school environment amongst others.”
Accepting that this is “a massive undertaking”, Shepherd said the country now had a significant bill to pay for people operating in the unit with little to show.
The former trade unionist, who was a candidate for the DLP in St Michael South East in the 2022 general election, also addressed the assignment of principals and deputies to new schools hours before the start of the new school term last Monday.
He claimed the “disrespectful” last-minute move had left some educational institutions without members of senior management.
“I know that there are schools in Barbados today, as I speak, without principals, without deputy principals, without heads of departments, without senior teachers, all because some persons believe that they have the right to interrupt the holiday of these educators to share news of appointments coming out of interviews which were done early during summer and of which the results would have been known long before the 17th of September,” said Shepherd.
He contended that the information should have been provided before the teachers’ planning week, which was the week before the start of the term.
Meanwhile, touching on the $100 textbook grant being offered by the Government for primary school children, he said that many parents were still waiting to find out how they would be able to receive the funds.
jeniquebelgrave@barbadostoday.bb
