11-plus needs to be revamped – Husbands

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training Sandra Husbands says without education transformation, Barbados is doomed.

She believes one area in particular that must be transformed is the Barbados Secondary Schools Entrance Examination (BSSEE).

Contributing to the Budget debate on Wednesday, Husbands berated Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne for suggesting that Barbadians think the BSSEE – commonly referred to as the Common Entrance or 11-plus examination – is the best option at that stage of schooling. She insisted that this country will have no future if it does not follow the path of those who have upgraded their economies.

“There is only one way to do it and that is through education. Without education transformation, there is no future for Barbados…. If you do not transition the economy into the coming fourth industrial revolution, our businesses will fail, people will not have jobs and people will face starvation. That is the reality and that is the truth,” Husbands said.

Regarding the 11-plus, she said: “You have a system that fails 80 per cent of the children, demolishes their self-confidence…and you want me to believe that Barbadians think this is the best course of action?”

The St James South MP told the House of Assembly that transformation must come to an examination that leaves many students feeling as though they have failed in life when they do not get a passing grade in the annual test that determines placement at secondary schools.

She said if children are to maximise their potential and earn well in the future, they will have to embrace education in technological skills.

Husbands said $254 million of the $651 million apportioned to the education ministry in this year’s budget, has been set aside for tertiary education as she highlighted that many children have left school without certification and without a clear pathway to a job.

“When we fail to transform the education system they will have no platform for their lives. Putting $254 million towards tertiary education is to help us provide a second chance for all those children who missed it at primary and secondary school,” she said.

Addressing Thorne’s criticism of the government’s treatment of ash workers who were sent home last year, Husbands said more than 1 000 of them were able to get into the Construction Gateway Programme “to pursue construction and building classes that would give them the skills that they could make a life for themselves”.

She said it was distressing for her that the opposition leader thought those workers should go back to the “stop-gap job” which she described as something for people to do when they needed something urgently.

“If they are going to live out their full life, maximising their potential, a country owes them the opportunity to get the type of schooling and education that would give them better-paying, more sustainable jobs, especially in the area of their personal desires because they have the skills to make their way in the world…. We want more for them,” Husbands said. (SP)