Public consultation opens on ‘inclusive education policy’

Educators, parents and community leaders have begun scrutinising the government’s draft inclusive education policy, as officials seek to overhaul a school system long criticised for academic elitism and exclusion, a holdover from the island’s colonial past.

A public consultation phase on the long-awaited draft policy was launched on Wednesday at the Deighton Griffith Secondary School.

Education consultant Dr Janice Gibbs, an author of the policy, called for a shift away from the legacy of academic elitism embedded in Barbadian education.

“Historically, we have been promoting those students who are academically gifted to the exclusion of many other students,” she told the audience. “During our colonial past, this was what was promoted and what was privileged. However, since independence, we realised that we have sort of clung to that old order . . . and the result is that the older grammar schools will have the Barbados scholarships and the exhibitions going in that way for the academically gifted students. That’s fine, but we want to widen the net. We want to provide for all of our students.”

The draft policy—developed by the Ministry of Educational Transformation in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank’s Skills for the Future II project—draws on global and regional best practice, including the UN conventions on the rights of persons with disabilities and the rights of the child, the Caribbean Development Bank’s 2002-03 model policy, and national disability frameworks.

Dr Gibbs highlighted sobering statistics from the Student Support Services Unit: 1 672 student referrals between 2021 and 2024, with 28 per cent of those students flagged for academic difficulties and 23 per cent for behavioural and emotional issues. 

“We need to now go in and see why these students have been referred in this manner,” she said.

Stories from stakeholder interviews painted a troubling picture of bullying, inadequate services and exclusion – at the hands of educators. 

“It broke our hearts,” Dr Gibbs said, recalling a case in which a visually impaired student was punished for receiving help from a peer.

Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw underscored that the policy is driven by public demand and ongoing reform. 

“It is essential that in Barbados, we provide opportunities for equitable access to quality education, regardless of students’ abilities, their backgrounds, or socioeconomic status,” she said.

Dr Archer-Bradshaw outlined several achievements already underway: expansion of special education classes at primary schools, speech therapy for nearly 60 students in two years, multi-sensory literacy workshops for 176 educators, and the reopening of the Alma Paris School as an academy for students with cognitive deficits.

She added: “The policy promotes social cohesion and reduces stigma. It ensures that no one is left behind due to physical, cognitive, or economic barriers . . . . It is a moral imperative . . . a social and economic imperative that ensures every single child receives the opportunity to succeed.” 

(SZB)