Union: Schools face ‘maintenance crisis’ without repair system overhaul

Barbados’ largest teachers’ union is demanding urgent action to fix what it calls “systemic failings” in school maintenance, warning that students and staff could return in September to unsafe and poorly maintained classrooms unless the Ministry of Education establishes a permanent, fully staffed maintenance department.

With schools set to close this Friday for the long vacation, following students’ last day on Thursday, the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) has again urged the ministry to formalise a maintenance department to tackle repair work more efficiently throughout the year.

Julian Pierre, BUT vice-president and chair of its Health and Safety Committee, said that although the union has seen noticeable improvements in how school maintenance issues are addressed — particularly through the Education Technical Management Unit (ETMU) — the system still falls short of what is needed to keep facilities in good shape.

“Since January 2025, the BUT has had a favourable relationship, pretty good relationship, with the . . . ETMU, the maintenance division of the Ministry of Education, regarding general repairs within the school, both minor and major,” Pierre said in an interview with Barbados TODAY.

He explained that the ETMU has been intervening outside of the traditional summer repairs programme and handling many small but important tasks that would otherwise pile up.

“Rather than waiting until the summer or waiting until the end of the term, there are things that are minor that could be done on the weekend or possibly after three o’clock in the afternoon to ensure that, you know, simple things are done to assist in the upkeep of the schools,” Pierre said. “Simple things like if a door is to be changed, a lock is to be changed, if light bulbs are to be changed, any plumbing issues — those are things that can be done after 3 p.m. or on the weekend.”

Pierre credited ETMU Director Wayne Baker for being responsive and proactive in addressing school infrastructure issues. Still, he argued that a permanent team of skilled tradespeople is needed to carry out repairs quickly and to a higher standard.

“We had suggested in meetings with the Ministry of Educational Transformation having a maintenance department where you have a mixture of professionals… so the upkeep of the schools would be a quicker response, more professional work being done,” he said. “They can also control the quality of the work being done because they would have an in-house department of persons that are trained, or persons that they can train that, you know, the quality of the work can be guaranteed.”

He said previous experiences with some outside contractors left much to be desired.

“Over the years, we’ve had issues with the quality of work with some contractors and those persons who have come in to do work — either the work had to be redone or the quality of the items used to fix or replace or repair were not of the highest standard.”

While the union is now seeing fewer complaints thanks to the ETMU’s stepped-up efforts, Pierre insisted that expanding the department to include qualified construction professionals would eliminate unnecessary delays and reduce reliance on project-based work.

“Working behind the scenes, the ETMU has been acting fairly quickly. However, we would still suggest an extension of that department where you have more of those construction and building professionals as part of the department so that these things can be done and it doesn’t have to wait on a project basis… to be left for end of term or during the summer maintenance programme,” the BUT vice-president said.

Pierre also raised concerns about the late release of funds under the annual summer maintenance programme — an issue that, according to him, continues to frustrate contractors and compromise the quality of repairs.

“On speaking to some of the contractors, they have indicated that the funds or the deposit for them to secure the work to start is released too late. For some, it is the middle of August,” he said. “So you lose the whole of July, sometimes the first two weeks of August as well, before work actually begins. This means it’s a mad rush to try to complete the work by the end of vacation, which in some cases can compromise the quality of the finish of the work.”

The union has advised the ministry to begin the disbursement process much earlier in the school year, taking into account the time it takes for approvals and fund release.

“If it is a case of a time period where a request is put in for the release of funds and it takes, let’s say, two to three months, [we suggested] that they made the request earlier — that by the time the process goes through… it would still be before the start of the summer vacation that they have the entire eight or so weeks to work on the schools,” Pierre said.

He also stated that the BUT would be closely monitoring how this year’s summer works are handled and will continue to push for structural changes that ensure students and teachers return in September to well-maintained, safe environments.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb