Parents abandoning their duty to guide their children has been identified by the head of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) as one of the root causes of the recent surge in violence among schoolchildren.BSTU president Mary Anne Redman complained on Monday that many parents were not fulfilling their responsibilities and were instead turning to schools and other institutions to train their children.This, she declared, along with a breakdown in traditional values and mores contributed to the alarming situation in the island’s schools.“There is a rescinding in too many families of the parental duties, and people are leaving institutions like the schools to train and raise up their children, and the schools can’t do it,” Redman said in an interview with Barbados TODAY.
The Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) has called on the Ministry of Education to schedule an urgent meeting to discuss the growing controversy surrounding a survey containing controversial questions and administered a week ago as part of a Computer Science test sanctioned by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).In a statement from the union, President Mary Redman said that though the union itself had “not been party to any discussions with the Ministry of Education and any other entities bearing responsibility for the “survey” or ”pre-test” on October 3, it is well aware of the current justifiable grievances it has raised.“The BSTU has therefore already written the Chief Education Officer asking for an urgent meeting to be provided with details relevant to the union so that it can have a fuller understanding of what took place. It has done this as a matter of course in its obligation to protect the interests of its members and its students. There are obvious
Stakeholders in the education sector are awaiting instructions from the Ministry of Education on whether masks will remain mandatory in schools. But at least one union and the island’s parent-teacher association are open to the mandate being lifted.The Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT), the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU), and the Barbados National Parent-Teacher Association (BNPTA) told Barbados TODAY the Ministry has not sent any correspondence on when the stakeholder meeting to discuss the matter would be convened.On September 23, mask-wearing became optional except in schools, on public transportation, and in facilities such as hospitals, dental offices, clinics, nursing homes, and daycare institutions.Following that announcement, the Ministry of Education said it would review the mandate in two weeks and get back to the public on the way forward.
Despite education officials reporting a successful start to the new school year, President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Rudy Lovell has expressed concern about three schools remaining closed because of ongoing repairs.So concerned was Lovell about what he referred to as a recurring situation, that he suggested that perhaps the time had come for the Educational Technical Management Unit (ETMU) under which school repairs fall to become a separate unit from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MEVT) and be given independent funding.The BUT head complained that the Ministry of Education approached school repairs the same way every year but expected to get a different result.He pointed out that during the September 12-16 planning week, teachers had to be at school plants while construction and industrial cleaning were ongoing – a practice which Lovell said the union was opposed to as it could affect the safety and health of teachers.
Amid the flight of Jamaican teachers to the United States in search of better opportunities, some of their American counterparts are cautioning them to temper their expectations as educators i.