Barbados minister says that there is a long way to go to achieve education for all

Education Minister Ronald Jones Monday said Barbados still has much to achieve if it is to attain the Education For All (EFA) Goals by 2015.  Addressing a stakeholder’s conference Jones, who is also Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, acknowledged that with respect to EFA first goal, which is expanding early childhood education, there was “still a bit of road to go”.

But he told the audience that the Freundel Stuart government was pursuing the matter with “great fervor”, bringing together all stakeholders even as he hinted it might not be attained by the 2015 deadline.  He then said it was possible it could be achieved within the next three years.

Jones said the second EFA goal of ensuring “free and compulsory primary education for all”, as well as secondary education, had been achieved.  But goal three, which urges the promotion of learning and life skills of young people and adults, was said to be ongoing.  He noted, “That’s a continuous process of refreshing and replenishing and trying to ensure that succeeding generations are able to continue to benefit.”

Addressing fourth goal, which seeks to achieve a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy, Jones said  “for those Barbadians who were never able to benefit from the formal school system, second chance opportunities are being provided through our adult education programs, both in the public and private sectors, and we constantly provide resources so that those who want to be part of that agenda are in fact not disadvantaged…”

He said the sixth goal of achieving gender parity in education, Jones said this might now be questioned to some extent because statistics for Barbados and for some other countries, reflected that there was still “a little hiccup in our transfer from primary to secondary schools, where the score for the girls is like two to three points higher.

He also stated, “I think that is a piece of social engineering because our girls  and our young women … are really burning some very progressive trails; they are working hard and they are satisfying the particular needs of their families and country. We have some challenges with some of our young men, particularly at the lower end of the learning scale and some issues of becoming students-at-risk.”

The minister and former teacher then added, “And, therefore, that must be an area of focus. We cannot have our young women moving ahead at a galloping pace and our young men who will be their future husbands being left behind. That creates its own problems within a given society.”

He also said with regard to the sixth goal of improving the quality of education,  “We still have qualitative issues in education in Barbados. That’s a fact; it cannot be disputed; the reality is there. … The research is there.”  Finally, the Education Minister said Barbados should not have a major  segment of its secondary school population leaving school after five, six or seven years  without writing one CSEC, while some people waited patiently  “to open the exit door so that they (students) can leave”.

Source: Caribbean360