Stop pressuring students, Minister urges

Barbadians are being urged to stop pressuring the young children who are preparing to sit the Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance Examination (BSSEE).

With the highly anticipated national examination around the corner, Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development and Member of Parliament for St James South, Donville Inniss, said many of the students are pressured, because there are some people who believe that a child’s future is dependent on the secondary school they attend.

Inniss called on society to stop the stereotyping, and accept that children have the opportunity to give of their best no matter which secondary school they go to.

He referred to the fact that while he sits in Parliament with 29 other MPs, he is not knowledgeable about where most of them went to school, noting that he is not particularly interested.

“I am more interested in the contribution that they are able to make to national development. I think that must be used as inspiration for you young children to recognise that no matter which secondary school you go to, you must apply yourself.

“You must continue to respect your teachers and others around you, you must recognise that the sky is the limit and once you give of your best and do these things, you will achieve your full potential.

“Not everyone in this country will emerge in a profession that they want to get into, but it takes each and everyone of us, doing what we have to do, with our own skills, in our own domain, to make this society and economy work,” he said.

The Minister was speaking to the media at the West Terrace Primary School yesterday, where he delivered a pep talk to the 73 Class 4 students preparing to sit the 2017 examination on May 2.

Teachers must be thanked
He also voiced concerns that while parents expect much of their children at this time in their lives, the teachers who spend time preparing the students for the national examination should be thanked for the immense support they offer the charges, including the selfless act of going beyond the call of duty.

He said students are often reminded that entry into secondary school is also them entering a new phase in their lives; however, people often forget to thank the primary school teachers who have laid the solid foundation.

“On behalf of all parents out there, I would simply like to say thank you to primary school teachers who really have a mammoth task in shaping the body and the minds and soul of these young children and laying that foundation upon which they will build,” he said.

He encouraged the students, who will be making their way to examination centres early next Tuesday morning, to use the upcoming weekend to revise and refresh their memories, and also urged them not to be overconfident, thinking they know it all and have no need to “brush up on anything”.

“Put in a few hours this long weekend preparing for the examination on Tuesday and to ensure that you get a good night’s rest the next morning. I don’t think that we can ask anything more than that you give of your best,” Inniss said. (AH)