MORE RESEARCH NEEDED

Barbados still has a sound education system. That is according to Retired Educator, Dr. Dan Carter, while giving a comprehensive look of education in Barbados yesterday at the Holetown Methodist Church. He outlined that even though technology is being used in schools, more needs to be done as many challenges still exist in the system.

The experienced educator suggested that, “We need to carry out more empirical studies into what some may call challenges with the system because sometimes we talk but not based on research. We need to have another investigation into the system and look at different aspects of the system to see what areas we can make improvements ... for instance co-education. For the last ten to 15 years people have debated if this is the best form, but you should examine the pertinent factors, if we go back to same-sex would it improve behaviour?”

Dr. Carter further pointed out that our human resource remains important to successive governments and we may not have free education from cradle to grave – referring to part payment for University – but this is a product of the economy. While stating that education remains important and we in Barbados still enjoy the privilege of education, he did raise concerns about the drug culture impacting children.

“Parents need to pay greater attention to their children and see what they are doing at school and work with the teachers so the students would know their parents are interested, there seems to be a tension been parents and teachers and we need to close that [gap],” he advised.

Many talk about entrepreneurship, but entrepreneurship should be linked to an expanding economy, once your economy is experiencing growth, people will see opportunities and introduce new businesses, he explained. (NB)