BUT raises red flags over school readiness

Despite a shift to year-round school maintenance, the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) on Monday called for early maintenance work at schools, declaring that delays often mean schools are not ready when teachers arrive for the first week, while rushed work could affect the quality of repairs.

Even as most schools opened as planned, a few were not ready to receive children, with work incomplete and teachers having to prepare classrooms while cleaning and other work was still being carried out.

BUT First Vice-President Julian Pierre told Barbados TODAY: “There still has to be some adjustment as to when the summer maintenance programme begins, giving sufficient time for the schools to be finished and ready by September 1 and not by the first day to receive students. 

“We had some issues at several schools with regards to this, which included Wesley Hall Juniors, Hilda Skeene, and Arthur Smith, where the schools were not handed over in proper time during the planning week to allow teachers to come in, to make their adjustments to furniture, etcetera, to arrange classrooms to receive the children.”

He noted that even after school opened for teachers, several schools needed to be industrially cleaned.

“There was no provision of moving teams from the Ministry of Education to assist the teachers with these moves. Some of the schools are more than one story, so moving furniture up and down stairs, then to arrange furniture, then for the classrooms to be cleaned, there has to be a better process and a timeline, a timeline for it. So the Arthur Smith Primary School and Hilda Skeene in particular were those two schools mainly affected by this.”

He claimed that Hilda Skeene was handed over even before some repairs were completed.

“The level of cleaning was not satisfactory either, so cleaning had to be done over in some areas or to be redone altogether. Then for teachers to come in and arrange furniture and set up classrooms for the teaching and learning process to begin. It is one thing for the ministry to say that all schools are open at a particular date, but being open and being ready for the teaching and learning process are not the same, and that is the issue which took place at Arthur Smith and Hilda Skeene this morning.”

He added: “A teacher opening one of the cupboards for the first time this morning recognised some droppings which are yet to be identified.”

While Pierre praised the government on the overall execution of the summer maintenance programme, he believes more diligence should be practised with the timing of the work.

“The school year begins on September 1 for teachers, and to re-enter a workspace which is a construction zone, you’re coming in, there’s paint fumes, you’re coming in contact with dust. You got to make sure you don’t park your car in certain areas because of screws being left around because it is still an active construction site. It is a problem for the teachers coming in.”

He stated that the late start also puts pressure on the teams working to complete the work.

“We also realised that with regards to the quality of work in some cases because work starts late, there’s a rush to try to complete it by, in some cases, a near to impossible deadline, then you will have the issue of things being overlooked or forgotten or not being done properly, that is also a concern of the BUT.

“We continue to advocate for those persons who maintain the schools to make sure they are safe work spaces and learning spaces for all but at the same time there still has to be some adjustment as to when the summer maintenance programme begins, giving sufficient time for the schools to be finished and ready by September 1.”

He further explained to Barbados TODAY that sometimes the scope of work can increase once contractors begin.

“In some cases you will find there’s something called scope creep, where what is intended for the scope of work, it may increase over time, as you come in to do a particular thing and the scope increases where you have to do the extra.

“So to allow for that then, work has to start early [so] that there’s still time to be able to get the extra done before the first of September, which is the true start of school, where it starts with the teacher’s planning week.”

The BUT said it was awaiting updates from the ministry about the affected schools.

(LG)