Education Minister, Santia Bradshaw (centre), in conversation with Acting Chief Education Officer, Joy Adamson and Principal of the St. Leonard’s Boys’ Secondary School, Stephen Scott, after the press conference.
Education Ministry taking action
Education Minister, Santia Bradshaw, says the ministry will be implementing measures to ensure Class 4s entering secondary school this September will be able to get the best out of their education.
She stated this while noting that from their assessments, the ministry is aware that some of the pupils entering secondary schools in the coming academic year will have deficits.
Her comments came while speaking to the media at the St. Leonard’s Boys’ Secondary School yesterday during a press conference at the conclusion of the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination (BSSEE).
“I want to take this opportunity to remind the students that while today [July 28th] is very significant in their lives … I want to reassure them that the day does not define the rest of their life. And we are working certainly very hard behind the scenes in the Ministry of Education to ensure that regardless of whatever talents they have, regardless of whatever abilities that they have, that they are able to get the best out of their education as they transition from primary school into secondary school.”
She continued by stating they “are also well aware that the incoming term there will be some challenges, there are a few children who will have deficits. We have seen that at the end of this last semester when we did a number of assessments. We realised that there are some students who would have been on a certain trajectory to do well, but as a consequence of all the factors related to COVID, they may not have performed at their very best and so we are mindful based on those assessments that we are going to have to do some more heavy lifting. If we weren’t doing it before, we are going to now have to do even more in this coming term”.
Bradshaw added, “We recognise that for the upcoming term, we are going to have to make some changes in terms of not just the syllabus, but certainly in relation to how we approach the deficits that our students are going to be entering into the secondary schools with.” (MG)