Education ministry launches early childhood programme, school initiatives

Universal access to early childhood education was launched across Barbados on Monday as education officials also advanced a specialised secondary-school academy and year-round refurbishment programme as the new school year begins.

Minister of Education Transformation Chad Blackman, flanked by Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer Bradshaw, Deputy Chief Education Officer Julia Beckles, Permanent Secretary Kim Belle and other officials, toured several schools as hundreds of students returned from their summer break to begin the new school year.

While for many children, returning to school brought the familiarity of reuniting with school chums and teachers, for the youngest learners stepping into a classroom for the first time was an entirely new experience.

At St Mary’s Primary, the senior education officials greeted pupils and wished them well as they settled into their classrooms.

It was at the City school that the minister announced the launch of universal early childhood education, an initiative that guarantees pre-primary school children across the island access to early learning opportunities at no cost to their families.  

Expressing enthusiasm for the roll-out, Blackman said: “Today of course is the day when we rolled out universal access in early childhood education, and that’s one of the reasons why we’re actually here at the St Mary’s Primary School because this is one of the schools that has rolled out that programme across the country. What that really means is that Barbadian parents now can have their children being able to access free of course at the counter delivery a play-based curriculum at the early age.”

The minister emphasised that the decision to introduce a structured, play-based curriculum is directly grounded in modern international research on early cognitive growth.

Observing global standards in regions such as Asia, Europe, North America and Africa, the minister explained: “The science has shown that when you put children from ages three to five into formal education with a formal curriculum, but in a play-based way where they’re learning to touch and see different things and explore the world, the cognitive ability that is required for them to do well in life happens at that stage. So what we’ve done as part of that transformation is to now bring that into formal education in Barbados this morning. It’s an exciting time.”

The ministry’s assessment then shifted towards secondary education and the unveiling of a new educational pathway at Princess Margaret Secondary School, which has been selected as a dedicated test case for a specialised academy designed to offer tailored learning approaches for students.

Commending the school’s ongoing progress and the commitment of its staff, the minister said: “We’re going off to the Princess Margaret Secondary School where we’re going to unveil and roll out the academy, which of course will be for the first performers to be able to have a different approach to education because what we’ve determined that we want to have a test case and we’ve used Princess Margaret to be able to now create a new pathway for learning for students. 

“Throughout the years that school has its own challenges, but that school is on a major, major turnaround, and we’re happy therefore to have dedicated teachers for the academy. Within two to three years that school will be a school that all of the country will not only be proud about, but we want to model it in different ways across the system.”

Alongside curriculum innovations, the physical state of schoos formed a major part of the minister’s update. Highlighting the age of many campuses, Blackmansaid the traditional eight-week summer repair window was no longer sufficient to address long-standing structural requirements.

“Importantly this summer we did an aggressive work programme  terms of infrastructural development of our schools.

“There’s no secret that our schools in many respects are between 50 years old and 200 years old, and it therefore means that we have to continuously ensure that the facilities are upgraded traditionally. You would do it only in an 8 week period, but we realised over the years that you cannot do the work only in an eight-week period. 

“And what we determined from last year is that if we’re going to make good progress on ensuring that the infrastructure is up to par, we’re going to do it year round. So outside of the eight-week period, we’re also doing it on the weekends, bank holidays, etcetera, so that schools will continue to be refurbished to a point where we are happy with respect to the delivery.”

Blackman highlighted a visit to inspect temporary arrangements at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic, confirming that transition arrangements had been progressing smoothly.

Addressing the temporary location and the long-term timeline for a permanent facility, the minister said: “We’re going to visit one of the satellite sites at the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic this morning just to see how the children have settled, but my reports from my team have indicated that they’re settled this morning. We’ll come back to the physical infrastructure because that’s still ongoing, as you know that project is meant to be completed for September 2027.” (RR)