Submitted by Douglas

Our educational sector plays a vital role in the development of this country.  This DLP administration has always regarded education as one of the key developmental tools which would take this country forward.  That decision made by the first DLP administration in 1961 to allow free secondary education for all Barbadians continues to be one of the foundation policies which accounts for all of the growth and development which this small country has accomplished since that time.

One vital component of the educational sector which requires some focus discussion is the Secondary School.

We note, with amazement, that the Opposition continues to dodge their work but yet still draw their salaries and dine at the tables of parliament.  We hope that mature bodies who have a vital role to play in the development of this country do not adopt the bad habits and practices of our childish opposition lead by Ms. Mottley.  However, we the members of the Democratic Labour Party will press on in our efforts to move this country forward.  This week, we focus on secondary school education.

Each year, the secondary schools receive between $125 million to $127 million dollars of the money allocated to the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation.  For 2013 / 2014 the total sum allocated to the secondary schools was $127,357,456 which represented some 25.5% of the budget of the Ministry of Education.

The secondary school system plays the greatest role of preparing our students for the world of work.  Helping them to build on the primary educational foundation developed in the primary schools.  It is at this stage that many of our students can be groomed and developed in to the men and women who will later become the workers and builders of this country.

Over the years the Ministry of Education has seen gradual improvement in the CSEC results in both the public and private secondary schools, no doubt as a result of the initiatives which were put in place by the ministry to ensure that these improvements came about.  Since coming to office in 2008 this DLP administration took steps to significantly improve the campuses of many of the primary and secondary schools to ensure that our students and teachers were provided with environments which were conducive for learning to take place.  On the technical side this DLP administration initiated a policy for all teachers to receive teacher education training.  No doubt the roll out of this policy has allowed more teachers to have a greater grasp of teaching skills and techniques.

Over the years, 2009 to 2013, the CSEC passes, grades one to three accounted for 65.24% to 72.37% of the total CSEC entries.  In 2009 there was a 69.98% pass rate, 2010 a 72.01% pass rate, 2011 a 70.07% pass rate, 2012 a decline with a 65.24% pass rate and in 2013 a 72.37% pass rate.   The grade one and two passes accounted for between 39% – 41% of the passes.

Further analysis of these results shows that for the males the passes ranged from 64.20% to 70.83%.  While for the females the passes ranged from 65.96% to 74.03%.

These passes are commendable and the efforts by the Ministry to improve on the pass rates is also worthy of consideration.

However, we must ask ourselves the question, can we be satisfied with this level of performance or should we be asking for more?  For a country which spends over $127 million dollars annually to provide secondary school education to some 19,297 secondary school students in public schools we should demand more.

This works out to roughly $7000 per student annually.  For this we have between 39 to 41 % of our students obtaining grade one and two certificates. While, some 27% to 35 % of our students fail.

If as a country we want to retain our competitive edge in this highly globalised and competitive world we have to demand more from our students and our teachers.  What can we do as a nation to ensure that the pass rates for grades 1 and 2 shifts closer to 50% while the failure rate falls below 20%?  One of the things we can definitely put a stop to is the insidious notion that only the wealthy or middle class benefits from the educational system in Barbados.  That notion goes against the grain of all that the members of the Democratic Labour Party have stood for in the near 60 year history of the party.

All Barbadians – rich or poor, from a single parent family or orphaned – have free access to the best educational system anywhere in the Caribbean and even the western hemisphere.  Clearly, we need to value it more and ensure that our children make better use of it.  Our teachers have a role to play by ensuring that all the children under their charge benefit from quality teaching and instruction at all times.  Through hard work and determination we can attain educational success.

We stand by the work we have done!