BUT concerned about staff in school closures

The Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) is hopeful that no educators will lose their jobs as the government moves ahead with plans to amalgamate several primary schools across the island.

President Rudy Lovell said while the union recognises the demographic realities prompting the decision, it expects the Ministry of Education to involve all stakeholders—particularly those representing teachers and ancillary staff—when deciding how changes will be implemented.

“Historically, we know that there has been a reduction in the number of rural schools, of private schools throughout the island,” Lovell told Barbados TODAY on Thursday.

“But we are hopeful that any amalgamation will involve a discussion with the union to ensure that those teachers and schools will not be disadvantaged in any way and that teachers would be able to retain their jobs in the amalgamated schools. We also believe that the ministry should meet with all the unions, including those that represent the ancillary staff, on this matter.”

Lovell’s comments follow confirmation from Minister of Training and Tertiary Education, Sandra Husbands, that a number of schools have been identified for amalgamation. Speaking on Tuesday during a tour of schools as thousands of pupils sat the Barbados Secondary Schools Entrance Examination, she said the measure is a response to declining birth rates and smaller student populations.

“We have a decline in our population overall and we are beginning to see it turn up in the registration of births, and the number of children therefore will be reduced coming through the school system,” Husbands explained. “And what that has led to is that we have a number of schools that are extremely small, and so we’ve been looking at amalgamating some of those schools and using them in an alternative way because our numbers are small.”

She underscored the need to safeguard every child’s educational journey in a shrinking system.

“It says to us that every child matters even more because it means that the Barbados economy will have fewer people going forward to carry economic growth, to carry our families, to build our communities, to build our churches.”

Husbands noted that the ministry will continue to provide updates to the public as plans unfold.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb