The Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) has called on corporate Barbados to help maintain schools across the island and suggested that Government offer incentives for businesses to do so.And while the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) has indicated it is open to discussions on the matter, it says certain conditions would have to be in place for such an arrangement to be possible.In an interview with Barbados TODAY, BUT president Rudy Lovell said that based on the number of schools in need of major repair, it appeared the Ministry of Education did not have the financial resources to deal with outstanding issues.He suggested that the private sector should partner with the Government to ensure students have access to a comfortable learning environment with all the necessary amenities and facilities.
A leading teachers’ union is charging that Government’s widely-publicised summer rehabilitation programme at the island’s schools appears to be hindered by a lack of funding and shoddy workmanship that has left some campuses plagued by mold, leaky roofs, overgrown fields and termite-infested walls.So dire is the situation at some of the learning institutions, that the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) is demanding that the health and safety conditions of several school plants be given the full and urgent attention of the Ministry of Education.Julian Pierre, the chairman of the union’s Occupational Safety and Health Committee told Barbados TODAY in a recent interview that only a small portion of the island’s schools fell under the annual summer maintenance programme but many others were in desperate need of attention.He said the programme over the years has failed to produce quality results as it has been impacted by poor work.
The St George Secondary School is saying no to bullying. The Constant, St George school is the latest to adopt the Olweus Bullying Prevention Programme, an international initiative designed to improve peer relations and make schools safer and more positive places for students to learn and develop. The programme is being implemented by Supreme Counselling for Personal Development as part of its Project Rescue and funded by the Maria Holder …
Schools are making sure they are ready when the bell rings next week. Yesterday, staff at a number of them were putting up sanitising stations and cleaning classrooms while contractors were maintaining water tanks and doing some debushing. Barbados Union of Teachers’ general secretary Herbert Gittens said he was sure schools would be ready by Monday but it was not “a one size fits all thing” as different schools had …