Parents’ group backs school reforms, warns delivery hinges on resources, timelines

A vocal parents’ group cautiously welcomed Barbados’s sweeping National Educational Transformation Plan, praising its ambition but warning that without firm timelines, guaranteed funding and clear implementation details, the reforms risk falling short.

When Paula-Anne Moore, the spokesperson and coordinator of the Group of Concerned Parents of Barbados and the Caribbean Coalition for Exam Redress, listened to the ministerial statement on the government’s flagship education reform package, she heard proposals she described as “full of exciting promise” – but also sensed missing pieces that could make or break its success.

Among the measures she welcomed were the hiring of three additional psychologists for early diagnostic work, a renewed focus on remedial education in primary schools, major infrastructure upgrades, a broadened curriculum to meet 21st-century demands, a national numeracy remediation strategy funded by Qatar, individual education plans, a national parental education programme, and mandatory seven-year secondary schooling.

Moore also backed an overhaul of the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination (BSSEE), in particular, the introduction of a 50:50 split between final exams and continuous assessment. But she cautioned: “More information is needed on how standardisation of the continuous assessment and its grading will be maintained.”

On discipline and safeguarding, she pressed for the “promised implementation of the national policy on school safety” to be embedded into the reforms and requested further details on the proposed residential facility for students.

While expressing thanks to Blackman, his predecessors and the ministry’s executive team for their leadership, Moore stressed the need to prioritise “realistic timelines, resource allocation, communication and engagement of education stakeholders, with parents as a core element and not an afterthought” to secure lasting change.

“Many parents did not have an opportunity to hear Mr Blackman’s Ministerial Statement of August 12,” she said. “We therefore look forward to written details of this National Strategic Educational Plan, inclusive of implementation dates of the major changes and new initiatives, and how the requisite supporting resources will be matched to each major element.” 

(SZB)