Thorne: Too many things wrong in education ministry

Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne has urged the government to stop pretending that all is well in the Ministry of Education, insisting that children and teachers were suffering under a situation of maladministration.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday as the Lower House debated the Student Loan Revolving Fund Bill, 2025, Thorne said the opposition and people of Barbados remained disappointed by the utterances of the Minister of Training and Tertiary Education, who introduced the Bill in Parliament.

Accusing her of delivering the usual cliches and talking points coming from the government, he said it was mere “sweet talk”.

The Christ Church South Member of Parliament lamented the level of student absenteeism which was attributed to the high cost of living and poverty in many working-class homes.

“I bring notice to this government that many of our young children are being deprived of access to education. Not because institutionally, they’re being deprived, but socially and economically they’re being deprived.

“Let the government reduce itself now to contact with the ordinary people in this country. Let the government reduce its contact to those who suffer. Let the government reduce its contact to the poor in this country, whose children are absenting themselves from school because the parents do not have enough money to give them breakfast, to give them lunch money,” the opposition leader pointed out.

The lone member on the opposition benches told the Chamber: “I said elsewhere, and I say it here, there are little boys across St Michael who are catching chickens when they should otherwise be in the school. And selling them and giving the money to their mothers so that the mothers can purchase food items from the shops and supermarkets to give them lunch. So, when the government comes here with this deodorised and sanitised legislation and asks for applause among its members, let this government be aware of the plight of those who suffer in this country.

“I’m tired of this charade that seeks to avoid contact with the suffering and the struggles of the people of this country. Ask the teachers who are under the charge of this Ministry of Education. Ask the principals to produce the registers. Do they still keep registers in the schools?”

In a presentation that was highly critical of the Education Ministry, Thorne reminded the House of Assembly of the “fiasco at Government Hill”, stressing that Barbadians have

not forgotten what he described as “domestic terrorism” on the students of Springer Memorial School.

“And I have heard the honourable member for St James South attempt to distance the ministry from responsibility for what happened on Government Hill on that fateful day when the children at Springer were terrorised and traumatised in what ought to have been a simulation that turned into an ambush,” Thorne insisted.

He added: “Not only were the students at Springer Memorial ambushed, but the principals who received short and inadequate notice of transfer to new schools, that is ambush. And what does it do to the educational institutions in this country? It destabilises them. And you come in here, this government comes in here with deodorised and sanitised legislation to give the impression that all is well in education in this country.

“All is not well. All is not well! And the people have sat quietly and endured this charade of good government.”

In his lengthy presentation that was frequently dotted with admonitions from Deputy Speaker Cynthia Forde to stick to the debate topic, Thorne told the House: “We can’t get investment. . . in manufacturing, this government is leading the charge by manufacturing a lot of sweet talk and fooling the people of Barbados that something new is happening in this country. Nothing new is happening.

“The purpose of this Act is to provide for a, the grant of loans to finance studies at educational institutions; b, the management and administration of the Student Revolving Loan Fund; c, the conditions of service for employees of the Student Revolving Loan Fund and the related matters.

“But let us try to take public debate beyond the personal, beyond the subjective, and let us tell the people how legislation relates to their interests and welfare . . . . Except that the Parliament is still deprived of this government’s real reason for repealing one or abolishing one and instituting a new one.” (IMC1)