With the region grappling with falling exam results, the Ministry of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology (MIIST) has unveiled plans to tackle the island’s literacy and numeracy woes.
Speaking to journalists on Friday, Marsha Caddle, the minister responsible for MIIST, revealed that the government was collaborating with the University of the West Indies (UWI) to overhaul the teaching of challenging subjects like Science, Chemistry and Mathematics.
Caddle said the intention was “to really have a plan for how we teach Mathematics and how we are able to increase the scores and increase the educational outcomes in Mathematics. That is going to give us the pipeline for scientists and technologists that we need to grow the industry”.
The minister’s comments on the sidelines of a closing ceremony of the 2024 MIIST camp held at The St Michael School came in the wake of a troubling report from the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), which highlighted a sharp decline in pass rates for Mathematics and English in the May/June 2024 exams across the region. More than 10 000 students failed to achieve basic literacy and numeracy grades.
This year’s CXC results showed that overall pass rates dropped from 78 per cent last year to 76 per cent this year. The performance in Mathematics was particularly alarming, with the pass rate falling from 48 per cent to just 36 per cent year on year. Students across the region also recorded poorer results in several other subject areas, including chemistry, French, information technology, integrated science, principles of accounts, and Spanish.
Caddle stressed the importance of diverse learning environments, adding that the Ministry of Education was looking at curriculum development, including how to deliver learning and the environment that children live in.
“It matters where people are learning; it matters for how you learn,” she stated.
She also outlined plans for an independent statistical and data analytics authority, as well as a new data centre, underscoring the need for data analysts and scientists in Barbados’ future workforce.
“We need data analysts, we need data scientists, we need people who, beyond administering services, are able to analyse the data and tell us how it should inform,” Caddle insisted.
“We need people to help build large language models and other kinds of models to apply to data so that artificial intelligence becomes a part of a new data and technology market and a new sector. So all of these things are a part of what we’re looking at.”
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
