Atherley in favour eliminating of 11-Plus

Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley has no issues with the proposal of the present Barbados Labour Party to eventually eliminate or abolish the Common Entrance Examination, also referred to as the 11-Plus.

Bishop Atherley, who spoke as a guest on the “Down To Brass Tacks” radio programme yesterday on a wide range of issues, stated his view that the exam as it is, presently encourages elitism.

“I have some concerns with respect to the Eleven-Plus. I think we have got to move away from a situation in Barbados, where there is elitism attaching to our school system in an institutional fashion and we have got to move to a place where there is equity. We have to have a more equitable situation with respect to that. I think the elitism starts with the whole Common Entrance mechanism and we have got to find a way to address that,” Atherley commented.

He however added, “I don’t know how the current government plans to go about it, but that is one of the things we certainly have to address. We have got to move from elitism and these inequities, to a place of excellence and specialisation in our schools. We have got to establish specialist schools and have institutions of excellence and make sure that all our people benefit from what we offer, in terms of education.”

“I have said it often, that very wisely we invest in education, but we don’t invest in education very wisely,” he maintained.

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley recently revealed that as part of a number of changes to be made to the local education system, the controversial Common Entrance Exam will likely be abolished.

The Prime Minister indicated that Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, Santia Bradshaw is soon expected to be given “a clean bill of health” following her earlier diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer and once she returns from her treatment overseas, she will be working to tackle the issue.

“Santia will start the conversation over the next six months, about the abolition and replacement of the common entrance exam, the creation of middle schools and giving people the chance to decide what school they want to go to at 13 or 14, instead of 10 and 11. At the end of the second form, they can decide if they want to do science, or technical or humanities or sports or history and geography or commerce or IT,” Mottley explained, stressing that the system must allow for every school to be a top school.

She meanwhile stated her view that change on the local educational front is a must, since with the current system as is, it is contributing in a big way to the prevalence of crime and violence touching society. (RSM)