Educator calls for full-time school counsellors

A long-time St Philip educator is calling for permanent counsellors in schools to provide support to young people directly affected by crime within their immediate family circles, as the island’s rising crime rate continues to have a ripple effect on society.

Betty-Lyn Estwick raised her concerns at the St Philip Ideas Forum held at the Princess Margaret Secondary School on Monday, where she recalled instances of children who witnessed crimes committed by family members later going on to commit similar offences.

Estwick suggested that dedicated counsellors at each school can monitor children showing signs of going down the wrong path, and help steer them away from a life of crime.

She said: “I think we need to look at the background of some of the people who are committing murder right now. I think we need to put a programme in place. I believe that every school should have a counsellor— not someone who is visiting one day per week or a few hours per week— but I believe that every school should have a permanent counsellor. 

“The children of these murder victims, the troubled children, the ones who are abused by adults, should be followed by the counsellor and should be given the support that would be necessary.”

Responding to Estwick, Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams said the currently carries out background checks on some young people.

He also announced that legislation would soon be introduced for a new Barbados Defence Force diversion residential programme aimed at identifying at-risk youth before they enter the criminal justice system.

The programme will involve the Ministry of Education and the Social Empowerment Agency (SEA), he said. 

“The legislation is coming in the shortest possible time, the program has been developed is a diversion program that’s being handled by the Barbados Defence Force, it will identify those children who are not yet in conflict with the law — we have a lot of programmes that deal with children who come into conflict with the law. This one is aimed at identifying children who might be heading in the wrong direction but haven’t gotten there yet.”

Estwick chided the Ministry of Education’s free breakfast programme, which begins in September, arguing that it was not necessary for every child.

She suggested that the government should instead provide support to existing breakfast initiatives:

“I think that’s a joke. I believe the teachers are the ones who know the needy children. I think you should support the breakfast programs that are in place, improve on them and take the extra money and spend it on the schools, making the environment more comfortable for the children and the teachers

But Minister of Education Transformation Chad Blackman defended the programme, stating that while some students may not be considered needy, many arrive at school early without having eaten breakfast.

He said: “We’ve made a determination that if we’re going to ensure that education transformation is meaningful for people, we can build all the schools, we can train all the teachers, we can provide all the best technology, but if a child is hungry, they cannot learn. 

“It’s also about providing the nutrition, and the science has shown [that] once you can have a meal in the morning before you start school, it will allow for you to be able to benefit, and that is really the fundamental reason why we are doing it.”

Member of Parliament for St Philip North Dr Sonia Browne, who also operated a school feeding breakfast programme, supported Blackman, stating that many children who needed breakfast were not necessarily underprivileged but arrived at school without eating because their parents left home early for work. She said her policy was that any hungry child would be fed.

“We found a lot of children that the problem was not necessarily that they were underprivileged but many of them got to school too early. Parents left home too early and never managed to have breakfast. So my policy was once you’re hungry, you are fed. 

Blackman also revealed that dozens of churches and organisations would be partnering with the state to provide meals for schools.

“The ministry will be meeting with a number 42 or 43 of those entities, churches, groups within the next two days to be able to finalise the arrangement because, you don’t want to kill the spirit of philanthropy that exists so having the rollout programme is not to exclude anybody but to ensure that we can coordinate where possible.”

The education minister rejected suggestions that funding for the breakfast programme would reduce money available for school improvement:

“You also raised the issue of money would be better spent if it were done to improve the schools. I want to give you and the public the assurance that that is what we’re doing, one, in terms of infrastructure, as you look around our school infrastructure in Barbados is between 50 to 200 years old. 

“It is not just about refurbishment; it’s also about ensuring that the schools are modernised for a number of reasons; these also form part of the infrastructure with respect to the climate crisis and natural disasters in the context of hurricanes.”

He further highlighted refurbishment work carried out at schools during the summer break, which began after the secondary school entrance examination.

“We took a decision to close a number of schools after the common entrance to be able to go in and to do some heavy lifting and to really fix those schools because why is that important?

“Students and teachers must be able to do all that they want to do in a space that is modern and fit for purpose, and a number of schools are being rolled out, but outside of that, teachers are being trained. The technology and infrastructure from that side is coming into play.”

Teddy Leon, founder of EduConnect, a startup platform that connects schools and parents in real time, called for Barbados to develop a digital infrastructure designed specifically for the island.

He said: “I believe that one of the opportunities before Barbados is to move from simply adopting technology and to begin intentionally building digital infrastructure that is built for Barbados by Barbadians. Across many sectors, there are local innovators that are building solutions that understand our unique challenges.”

Leon said his homegrown platform was designed to improve communication between schools and families while reducing administrative burdens on educators.

“Our startup called Educonnect which is a homegrown platform designed to improve communication between schools and families while reducing the administrative burdens on educators and creating a more connected Education ecosystem. 

“What the app does is it allows the school to connect with parents in real time. You press a button, the app will connect to one parent, one class, one school, or the entire island, with just one press of a button. 

“The phone is gonna pick up the phone, call you whether or not you have data. You’re gonna receive the message, and as we deconstructed and reconstructed through our, through our pilots at several schools across the island.”

He said the system reduces administrative work and speeds up communication, and urged the government to form stronger partnerships with technology innovators.

(LG)