Veteran education official pushes for more student talent platforms

Students with talents beyond academics must be given the infrastructure and opportunities to succeed, according to veteran educator Idamay Denny, as Barbados moves to strengthen international cultural and educational partnerships.

Speaking at the Oceana Innovation Hub during a cultural exchange showcase involving New York’s Performing Arts Technology High School (PATHS) and Barbadian students on Wednesday, Denny, a former deputy chief education officer who spearheaded the government’s education reform project, said programmes like the one staged between PATHS, St Leonard’s Boys’ and Coleridge and Parry were critical to education transformation.

She said: “What I saw here this morning reinforces what I tell the people in the ministry about investing in our students in terms of transformation. We have to give you things that when you wake up in the morning, you want to get to school, and activities like what we saw here this morning are those kinds of activities.”

The showcase formed part of a partnership between the Ministry of Education Transformation and I WILL GRADUATE, which brought the PATHS student band to Barbados for a cultural exploration and exchange experience with local schools.

Denny, now a strategic policy advisor for the Ministry of Education Transformation, argued that music and the arts could no longer be viewed as secondary pursuits, stressing that they now offered viable career opportunities for young people.

“Once upon a time when I was a girl going to school, nobody thought that music was going to be the thing that was going to carry you somewhere in life. We saw that as a little extra thing by the side. But nowadays, music is one of the biggest pathways to sustainable employment.”

Pointing to a female trumpet player from PATHS, she said the performance highlighted the changing face of the music industry.

“Once upon a time then we saw bands… All men. But can you see from her that we can have some real good women playing in these bands. I will not be surprised if God allows me to live another 10 years to turn on my TV one day and see her playing in a band. She’s that good. Her heart is in it.”

She also praised a student vocalist from PATHS who performed during the showcase, telling the audience she could one day become an international star.

“When I saw you, I thought I would see you in one of those shows X Factor, The Voice… all of those things where people go and their whole career gets made in that moment while they’re there performing. I could see you on one of those shows winning and then becoming a big-time star.”

The education official maintained that schools must broaden their definition of student success and recognise talents outside traditional academics.

“Yes, we want you to go to school and we want you to do well academically, but we don’t want you to think that academics is all. There are other things. You have other talents and we want to provide the mechanisms; we want to provide the infrastructure for you to do well with all those talents that you have.”

Denny, who revealed she officially leaves her post at the Ministry of Education Transformation on Friday, said she still intended to remain involved in developing arts-based educational opportunities and collaborations.

“This is only the beginning,” she declared.

“As I said, I am leaving this job… But I won’t be gone from this because I want to see this develop.”

She explained that one of her goals while helping to shape the ministry’s education transformation proposals was ensuring children with different strengths were given opportunities to thrive.

“We know that we have children who are not the best academically… We know there are children who have other talents. We know there are children who want to do other things. Why don’t we put the infrastructure in place to help those children do those things?”

Denny also highlighted leadership qualities displayed by the Barbadian students during the exchange as a St Leonard’s Student taught the PATHS students how to play steel pan. 

“That was leadership. We want children to develop leadership skills. It doesn’t only come from learning English and History and Science; it comes from this sort of activity too.”

“When I saw the boys from St Leonard’s standing beside their counterparts from PATHS, guiding them into how to play the scale on the steel pans, I saw leadership in action. These children are bright, brilliant children, but we don’t feel so. So we have to expand what we call brilliance.”

Thanking PATHS representatives for choosing Barbados for the initiative, Denny promised to continue supporting the programme after leaving office.

“I am going to spend some time helping to develop this collaboration,” she said as an announcement was made for Barbadian students to go to New York. 

(LE)