(from left) Chief Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, Laurie King; Minister of Education Ronald Jones; and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Cecile Humphrey.
Call for more diversity in areas of study
8/11/2012
There is a good cohort of persons to take the country forward in terms of Science and Technology, but more persons should be pursuing studies in Applied Arts and Business.
This is coming from the Chief Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, Laurie King, after the announcement of Barbados Scholarships and Exhibitions for 2012 showed that, once again, the majority of them came from the Science and Technology discipline with 35 of the 44. Another three came from Applied Arts and six from a combination of other subjects.
Meanwhile, Minister of Education and Human Resources Development, Ronald Jones, commended the students for their excellence, noting that in order to be awarded scholarships, students had to attain Grade One’s in all of their core areas for the sixth form schools, while students at the Barbados Community College (BCC) have to score a minimum GPA of 3.75. The Awards of Excellence for BCC students follow the same criteria, except that they are for persons over the age of 20.
According to Jones, the fact that these winners were able to do that in such demanding programmes shows they are willing and have stepped up to the plate. He added that the taxpayers pay for the education of the youth and the country should be kept abreast of how they are doing.
He also reminded persons that while these students have done exceptionally well to have been awarded these Scholarships, Exhibitions and Awards of Excellence, there are other students who would have also have done quite well, receiving a combination of Grade One’s and Twos who must be acknowledged as well.
The Minister of Education stated that the students must recognise that a substantial amount of investment has been placed in them and they must utilise this investment to the best of their ability.
He added that the Ministry also recognises that different students have various abilities and all of these persons deserve to be rewarded regardless of their talents and abilities. In this regard, they would continue to reward those young people who have attained success in other fields such as music and sports.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Cecile Humprey, also commended the students and stated that it was good to see that they have a good cohort of young people who are prepared to take the country to the next level. (PJT)
