Education must come first in Barbados, says Ambassador

A noted historian and educator believes that education must remain at the forefront of Barbados’ focus over the next fifty years.

 

Robert ‘Bobby’ Morris, Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM put forward this idea for the country’s future, on Friday as he delivered the Democratic Labour Party’s lunchtime lecture on the topic ‘Platform for Change at 50: What’s Next”.  

 

“I don’t want anybody to misunderstand how important education is. Education is the difference between my grandfather, my father, me, my children and my grandchildren – our possibilities are so far different, only because of education,” he said.

 

He explained that education is the avenue through which persons can get out of poverty. Morris further noted that this country which was educated by pupil teachers in the early days, has now moved to a stage where most if not all teachers are university graduates holding one, two or three degrees and this, he said, has opened up even more possibilities with respect to the delivery of education.

 

“Tomorrow’s classroom is the classroom with smart boards and all kind of technology and laptops etc, not chalk and talk like we knew, [that’s] gone… A lot of our degrees are going to be gained E [electronically], not sitting down in front of anybody in Barbados, but doing something from a university in England or America,” he said.

 

Morris insisted, “And if we get good enough, Barbados would be a centre of education for other people who would be doing their degrees E with Barbados. Some would be coming here, but some of them would be getting a degree from the University of the West Indies by staying in their own country. And that country doesn’t have to be Caribbean country, it may be Latin America, it might be India, it might be China.”

 

He maintained that these are real possibilities for Barbados, but first we have to recognise as a country that we have the potential to reach that level and to thrive. His comments came as he suggested that the country could focus on niche areas through which they can reach out to students.

 

After the lecture Morris was questioned by The Barbados Advocate about what can be done to encourage young people to continue to put education first, particularly in light of the revelation earlier this week from the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, Dr. Justin Robinson that acceptance numbers are low in that faculty and persons seem unwilling to access financial aid. Morris is adamant every effort must be made to emancipate these young people’s minds from mental slavery.

 

“What I would like to do is to get a list of those names and go and talk to them, and get more people like me to tell them how important education is. We have to help persuade our young people,” he said. (JRT)