Tag Archives: BCC

Why CBC/(ICB) and BCC Can NEVER Optimize

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Submitted by Cherfleur

In two separate court hearings, these two iconic institutions said a lot about themselves. It explains where and why they are where they are in the scheme of progressiveness.

BCC –
The Chair, no less than Velma Newton, Attorney-at-Law (I am told), advised the Court (through the Deputy Chair, Ms Denny) that the Hand-Book is not contractual. After six years of attempts at Mediation to make them ‘see the light’ BCC, through its Chair mounted a defense of using wrong form and no form (of some kind). That is all well and good. So what happens when the corrections are made?

A blunt refusal to read their Hand Book and learn. A blunt refusal to come to Mediation when they are as wrong as the sun setting in the east. What began as only a Breach of Contract has morphed into a Breach of Consumer Guarantees including false advertising. Of course, you’d only know this if you compare them to other colleges. BCC was not and I believe are still not accredited so they have programs that do not meet the basic requirements for Associate Degree level, they advertise one thing and offer another, they rob students the choice of electives in some programs, tamper with Transcripts/Records, issue Records with calculated errors and the list goes on. This matter has gone to appeal, or at least I filed something of the sort.

What 21st century Leader or Leader at all would expose their organization to such degradation and public scorn and ridicule?

CBC –
Goodness, gracious. As Trustees of an entity as important as Employees Pensions Fund, CBC and its cohort ICB (back then) do not understand the workings of the Group Pensions Plan they are managing. They don’t know that Pensions is not Insurance. In fact, no one seemed to understand that minute peculiarity, but me and the young lady, the Pensions and Insurance Manager, at the Financial Services Commission.

Nevertheless, FSC’s Management and CBC’s Management are refusing to honour the Rights to Information Act and give a copy of the Master Plan for CBC/ICB Group Pensions Plan. Constitutional Rape! ICBL Attorney-at-Law advised, proudly, that as far as she knows a Named Beneficiary on ‘an Insurance” policy cannot be challenged. It would seem that this rubric she is using was from time memorial. That Law went into effect in 1997. But notice, I said Pensions. Nevertheless, this matter was heard and dispensed with since December 2020 but to date no Order is forthcoming.

Why? I shall appeal. Also, they don’t want to acknowledge that ‘likkle me’ understood the ICB Handbook and the Pension Scheme.

An appeal means Cost to the Defendant.

There would have been no Defendant if CBC’s GM and HRM at the time, knew what they were doing with the company’s Pension money.

That being said, here is why they won’t optimize to becoming global institutions. They lack structure and integrity. Perhaps vision too. That is because they are the Public Service operating in an island State aka Banana Republics.

In Arabia, a young Republic, UAE, is marching forward towards global status. The government is positioning its country and people at a national level through training. Every agency and institution is being positioned to take that country to its global capacity. Not just those in the monarchy but ALL. Intentions!
Global Government Summit.

Responsible Leadership for Infinite Success – Simon Sinek – Full Session – WGS 2019 – you have to listen to the end to the Question and Answer section.

https://aqdarworld.com/about-aqdar-world-summit/

“Are we there yet?”

Do we even understand what ‘Responsible Leadership’ is?

There are no Leaders among these ‘ears of corn’. We have people taking taxpayers’ dollars in monthly installments.
Rather than make good just decisions across the board, for the most part, the Public Service, first, is a dump for Party Poopers (square pegs in round holes) then wimps who merely do party biddings.
We Banana Republics cannot and will not optimize with these attitudes.
It would have been better for these institutions to learn from their errors and develop and progress but not even a slap on their wrists. So CBC continues as it always has, at a loss and ‘lost’ and BCC, dysfunctional as ever, perhaps is still offering and executing barren programs. You’d only know this if you had reason to compare it to a ‘real’, functional college.

But Velma engaged Pat Cheltenhan’s firm for the first round and will for the second, perhaps. Who is paying? The devil is in the details. I learned from one of the very errant Attorneys in another one of my cases that what the Judge assesses as Cost is not all that the Attorney’s fees is. Who is paying all of that?

At the end of all of this, BCC has to conform to a proper structure and delivery of its programs. Whether so that I benefit or just because the Accreditation Body demands.

But at what cost to taxpayers?

Not to mention that their inefficiencies are now a matter of public record.

The Phartford Files: BCC Fast Becoming a Basket Case

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Submitted by Ironside

One scholarship! That is all the Barbados Community College (BCC) was able to garner in 2019!

Not surprising, given the recent revelations regarding the ongoing scandalous performance of BCC nursing students in the regional nursing examinations.

Well, the Mia Mottely administration has solved the nursing problem: Barbados will be importing nurses and nursing is to be removed from the curriculum of the BCC and (possibly) given to Ross University.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The problems at the Eyrie institution get more interesting by the semester:

1. Pass mark to 45%; a two stage drop from 60% through 50% over the last ten years or so. In the same time UWI raised its from 45%.

2. Recent implementation of supplemental exams for every student for every major subject across the board – no questions asked; no restrictions – in stark contrast to what obtains at comparable colleges across the world.

3. An arrogant Student Affairs Department – which falls under the ambit of the Registrar – that stuffs upwards of 45 students in rooms designed to comfortably seat 30 students despite specifications from teaching department heads. Every day, some students in some divisions report having to “borrow” furniture from adjacent rooms with the attendant problems of delays in the start of classes and possible injury to fellow students along the narrow corridors.

4. Increasing breakdown in discipline. Tutors complain of the blatant cursing in the closely confined spaces of the college premises and rudeness to tutors with no response from the administration. Some of those confined spaces are just opposite to the offices of the Registrar who has not lifted a finger to check the uncouth behaviour. No surprise there, since it appears that, according to some staff members, the Registrar – Mr. Roger Worrell – can’t decide whether he is “student friendly” or “student centered”. Whichever it is, it does not come with strong discipline! It is simply his sick idea of “loving students”.

5. The treatment of students found guilty of cheating is an eye opener. Under the current directives, if a student is caught cheating in an exam he or she is to have the examination booklet removed and given another one, right there in the examination room, ostensibly pending a later investigation. Such investigations invariably never happen and guilty students continue on the campus with impunity.

6. Failure to get national accreditation even after having begun the process for it more than three years ago and after the appointment of a so-called consultant to manage the process.

7. Increasingly blatant corruption in the institution from successive Boards of Management downwards. The recent appointment of a new principal to the BCC is a case in point and worthy of separate discussion.

The appointee, Mrs. Annette Alleyne, is hitherto an unknown to most BCC staff. Translated, that the means that nobody seems to have ever heard her express an opinion- controversial or otherwise- on anything of educational importance in the institution! In other words, nobody knows if she gives a good Bajan phart about the BCC!

So how does she become principal? Better still, why would she even apply for the job given her lack of management experience and apparent disinterest in the job? And why was she given the job by the Professor Velma Newton led Board of Management when it appears that there were at least three other candidates – with doctoral degrees, demonstrated interest and/or experience and/or expertise – who apparently applied for the job?

How does the Project Director of the IMPACT Justice Project justify brushing aside three other highly qualified candidates who have demonstrated commitment to the BCC for so many years in favour of an obviously shallow candidate, if one can judge by the interviews Mrs. Allyene has given so far?

If one had any suspicions about the new Principal’s appointment, those were confirmed by her no-show on the relatively recent Peter Thorne moderated People’s Business discussion on nursing in Barbados. Mr. Thorne was at pains to point out that they had sent repeated requests to the BCC administration for participation in discussion on the matter.

But perhaps we are being unfair. Maybe the new Principal was under gag order by the Board? That would not be surprising because tight control of communication seems to be the working philosophy of the Mia Mottley administration.

In her “historic” and histrionic meeting with BCC staff a year ago, Professor Velma Newton, short of issuing a threat, left no doubt about how she feels about staff, at any level communicating, with the public without her “blessing”.

That should be very alarming to lovers of freedom and justice, since no such strictures are placed on members of staff of the UWI where the BCC chairperson is still an employee and as noted above, Director of the IMPACT Justice Project. For example, Jeff Cumberbatch, a UWI law lecturer, is a regular contributor to this blog.

What shall we say to these things: “All educators are equal but some are more equal than others?”

There is a lot more than meets the eye here and Phartford Files will have more to say on this later. For the time being, these are a few of takeaways from this BCC case worth noting:

1. The BCC is fast becoming a basket case (“a person or thing regarded as useless or unable to cope”). The cause is deeply rooted in the failure of successive political administrations to appoint competent, professional managers rather than yard fowls and people they can easily control. Both of the so-called main parties are guilty of this practice. This BLP administration has taken it to a new level.

2. Corruption is now spreading like a cancer even across our top educational institutions (it is an open secret that the former SJPP is a DLP political pork barrel).

3. Integrity legislation is a smoke screen and a soother for the masses; it is will not stop this kind of corruption.

4. The current politico-governance system in this country is morally bankrupt at the core and needs to be permanently dismantled.

In the meantime, while we wait patiently for the next election, the powers that be are reminded that the Barbados Community College is funded by our taxes and is therefore, a public institution. The time for a response regarding the BCC is past due!

Nursing Program at BCC Falling Short

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The blogmaster can recall that in 2010 former Minister of Health Donville Inniss announced a plan to change the nursing program at the Barbados Community College (BCC).  The objective was to ensure that Barbados responded to a shortage of nurses.

Who remembers the public outcry when nurses from the Philippines and elsewhere were recruited at the QEH? The underlying reason for the shortage was that student nurses were failing the Regional Examination for Nurse Registration. Inniss indicated  that a committee would be setup to come up with recommendations to address the issue.

Some of the recommendations reported in the media:-

  • Admission requirements and student intake – no more than 80 students should be admitted annually over the next three years. This would be reviewed at the end of the period.
  • Admission should be considered at three levels – academic requirements, entrance level/proficiency test, and aptitude assessment.
  • All tutors should participate in clinical activities, and a comprehensive examination should be reinstated.
  • The Nursing Council of Barbados has evaluated the General Nursing Programme and has submitted its report to stakeholders,” said Inniss as he listed the changes.

Source: Nation newspaper – Changes for nurse training

In February 2019 Minister of Health Jefferey Bostic was reported in the press that he will be asking for a meeting with the Minister of Health to review the course work at BCC because of a high fail rate by nurses completing the regional examination. The minister’s position is supported by the following news column with a call to recruit nurses from overseas.

The question to our planners is – with the heavy investment in education why do we have to recruit nurses from overseas? What is so difficult about ensuring the nursing syllabus at BCC is aligned with that of the Regional Examination for Nurse Registration?

QEH to look abroad for nurses

Henderson Pinder, Director of Nursing Services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

(FP)

personnel are coming from that institution, Pinder said.

“The Barbados Community College and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital have a partnership in which Barbados Community College offers aspiring nurses with the educational framework to pursue a career in nursing, and the QEH provides BCC nursing students and graduates with internship and job opportunities.”

“However, although many nursing students go on to attain a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the Barbados Community College, many fail to pass Regional Examination for Nursing Registration (RENR). This is a matter which we need to urgently rectify to increase the number of registered nurses available on island.”

Chairman of the QEH’s Board of Management, Juliette Bynoe-Sutherland said: “We also recognize that we retain nurses who work at the QEH by making them feel more valued, recognizing their contribution and addressing matters such as salary, conditions of work, benefits and staff amenities. The Government has committed to providing for upward mobility of nurses as specialist nurses and the QEH will be working closely with the Barbados Nurses Association and Nursing Council to achieve this goal.”

Given the shortage of nurses, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital plans to look overseas.

Director of Nursing Services at QEH, Henderson Pinder, said it was necessary to ensure the continued, safe, patientcentred delivery of nursing services, especially in the Accident and Emergency (A& E) Department.

The need to look outside for nurses has been compounded by those interested in the profession but failed examinations at the regional level after successfully gaining their Bachelor of Science degrees in nursing from the Barbados Community College (BCC).

“Unfortunately, there are not enough critical care trained nurses in Barbados to meet the QEH’s staffing needs. As such, in an effort to fill the establishment, we’ve expanded the search for critical care trained nurses to other jurisdictions,” Pinder told the Sunday Sun.

Nurses are being recruited from St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and the Philippines.

Improve quality

Pinder noted the QEH has been continuously trying to improve the quality of nurses, and recently 29 completed the highly-rated Canadian Triage Acuity Scale (CTAS) training programme. A second cohort of nurses is to benefit from similar training .

In spite of the shortage, the QEH continues to maintain standards which allows it to deal with the dozens of emergency cases which flow through the heavily trafficked A & E Department, Pinder said.

“The nurses of the Accident and Emergency Department are able to provide an excellent standard of care despite the large number of persons who present to the department,” Pinder noted. “In instances when the number of persons who require care overwhelms the A& E’s staff complement, additional staff is deployed to the department and various other surge staffing measures are employed. Even on these occasions, the care given to our patients meets and surpasses the standards of practice for patient care.”

The lack of nurses on an annual basis casts the spotlight on the facility’s ability to draw from the BCC special programme, as it is clear not enough Fail exam

By Barry Alleyne barryalleyne @nationnews.com @barry_nationbb

 

Barbados Community College (BCC) Standards Plummet

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Submitted by Neil Watchman

Ronald Jones, Minister of Education
Stephen Broome, Chairman of BCC

The Barbados Community College has managed to gain a meagre two scholarships of the total of 45 scholarships and exhibitions awarded. Not surprising, since the Minister of Education has made it clear by his periodic mouthings, that the Sixth Form School is the way to go.  Of course, the big winner is the Caribbean Examination Council, whose CAPE exams these sixth form students will be preparing.  Good for them and their parents.

In the meantime, the BCC has been limping along, neglected and for evermore under-resourced even in good financial times. Its main asset has been its dedicated teachers who have given beyond the call of duty.   Not the same, though with its senior administration (Principal, Deputy principal and Registrar) which, with a mix of appointees by seniority and political affiliation, has yet to constitute a stable, competent team to handle the running of the institution.  We are told that the College is currently without a principal as Dr. Austin, who was appointed some eighteen months ago, has not sought reappointment.  In other words, folks; the College has gone through two principals in as many years.

In 2016, the institution applied to the Barbados Accreditation Council for registration. We understood that this is the phase that precedes accreditation. Members of the public, I am sure, will be surprised to learn that the BCC is not an accredited tertiary institution; for all its fifty or so years of contributing to the higher education, it has not yet met muster.

Added to this, powers in the Ministry of Education, for various reasons, have always treated the BCC as a second-class academic tertiary institution after UWI.  That is, until now that university fees have increased prohibitively putting the vision of “a graduate in each household” in jeopardy.

We believe that blame for this state of affairs can be laid fairly and squarely on back of the series of lame-duck Principals and Deputy Principals that have been appointed over time; people without any management training to speak; people who simply administered the system but had no vision of where it could and should go.   The last two Boards under Stephen Broome hired a number of top level staff including a Building and Facilities Manager, a Human Resources Manager and a Chief of Security.  As a local visitor to Carifesta, you cannot help but notice the new signage and new toilet facilities.   Kudos to Building and Facilities.

But the governance system has not kept pace with the physical improvements.  Sources indicate that the Human Resources Manager position has turned over twice in the last three to five years, the most recent resignation being effective earlier this month.

Of greater concern is academic governance which is in such a state of affairs, that the Barbados Accreditation Council, we have been told, has granted the institution a one year registration rather than the normal three year period.

We have also learned that several factors contribute to this state of affairs. One of the most crucial, that could go some way in explaining the dismal performance on Barbados Scholarships this year, is the downward adjustment of its grading system.  According to the BCC Student Handbook, which until recently was available online, the institution moved its pass mark from 50% to 45% in 2011. To my mind this is a backward step but one which was evidently okayed by the Board of Management which can hardly be expected to do better, given that it is virtually a one-man affair.

We are also learning that the College has made its provisions for so-called supplemental exams so generous that all a student has to do is earn about 40% to be eligible.  Also, if the student has missed a final examination, he or she can also “do a sup” as the students like to say.  There are no controls over, for example, on whether a student missed an examination for valid reasons, such as illness; once the student finds a sympathetic ear, he or she can find a Tutor or a Senior Tutor and command a supplemental examination.

So, if you are looking for a good reason why the BCC’s performance in the recent scholarships has been so dismal, look no further than the state of their academic governance.

As a tax paying parent and a past student of the BCC, I find it hard believe that it has sunk to this state and apparently is still sinking, if the reports coming out of  the institution are anything to go by.  The impression we get is that academic discipline and student behaviour have been at an all-time low. Reports of drug use and general uncouthness to tutors have also been on the increase over the last year or two.

Perhaps the BCC is ripe for investigation by an independent commission so that tax payers can get some feel for how their ever increasing tax dollar is being spent at this institution. Until the BCC gets its house in order, parents are perhaps better off sending their children to Dr. Browne’s Sixth Form College or one of the increasing number of sixth form schools that our good friend, Mr. Ronald Jones, has set up.

BCC Staff “in the Dark”

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Submitted by Neil Watchman

Stephen Broome, Chairman of BCC

Stephen Broome, Chairman of BCC

BCC staff members are still in the dark as to why after three top posts Principal: Deputy Principal and Registrar, were advertised in November 2015, no one has been appointed to any of these posts. Of course, only in two of these appointments does anyone seriously expect any surprises. The Board wasted no time in giving Mr. Roger Worrell, a well known DLP supporter, an acting appointment to the post of Registrar. Anyone who knows Barbados well would understand what will happen next.

With regard to the post of Deputy Principal it is anybody’s guess. Someone once commented that the BCC has never had any Deputy Principal worth shouting about. The current acting incumbent is Head of Computer Studies, a department which he has managed to run into the ground so that far from being a Division with excess applications it is now under-patronized and private sector companies that once snapped up graduates of this department now speak disparagingly of it.

In stark contrast, staff of the UWI Open Campus have been enlightened since 2015 because they have received a letter explaining that the Board of the BCC has requested that Dr. Ian Austin be released on secondment to assume the post of principal of the Barbados Community College. I wish to query the wisdom of this move by the Board.

My beef with the appointment of Dr. Austin is not personal; it is principled. How so? Anybody who has seriously studied the fiasco that was UCB (of which the BCC was an integral part) knows that it was betrayed by double-crossing sycophants like Bobby Morris – excuse me! – His Excellency Robert Morris, a cast of UWI hypocrites – yes UWI – who sat on the various committees and one Patrick Rowe (former head of the UCB project office) who, if the Anansi stories are have any moral at all, would be better off cloning himself so that he could hopefully finish anything that he is put in charge of or initiates. Careful analysis will show that once the UCB project was sabotaged, the UWI, always behind the BCC with regard to the development of curriculum, seized the initiative and ran with it like Usain Bolt.

Dr. Austin is head of the Open Campus which competes directly with the BCC. It is no secret to those who are in the know that the OC tried to duplicate many of the programmes run by the BCC. Of course they failed miserably at first but thanks to shrewd marketing viz. advertising, they have convinced many that they are doing well.

One could understand if Dr. Austin had had good reason to leave the OC for example, because of a falling out with the UWI hierarchy or some similar reason. The letter, however, states that he is to be hired on a secondment basis; in simple terms this means that at the end of whatever period he will be returning to the OC. What he will do with the intimate knowledge of BCC gained during his secondment there can be guessed by anyone with a morsel of common sense, except maybe, the BCC Board- which effectively is Mr. Reginald Broome, head of Systems Caribbean.

Are we being unfair to Mr. Broome! Absolutely not. How do you: (a) cause the Fine Arts department in an institution like the BCC to lose a cool 1/4 million dollars in overseas grant financing (2) bungle the firing of the last incompetent principal (3) preside over the Nigerian students fiasco and now (4) hire your competitor on terms that appear inimical to your interest and still qualify as having common sense? My Sweet Lord!

But can we really blame Mr. Broome? Not really. Blame must rest fairly and squarely on the shoulders of the Minister of Education, Ronald Jones and by extension, Mr. Freundel Stuart who does not have the guts to move the demon-chasing, shallow-minded, half-literate alleged transvestite that inhabits the post of Minister of Education and who has allowed the BCC to be run into the ground. What Mr. Jones needs is for the ghost of Errol Barrow to haunt him every night all the way to Garrison Savannah where he may find some reprieve in the company of people like Muscle Cat! Mr. Freundel Stuart, on the other hand, has gotten more than he ever expected and is not prepared to jeopardize it! But I digress.

If Dr. Austin does take up the position at BCC I can only wish him well. He is going to need it with the likes of Mr. Broome who needs to spend some quality time on the couch of one of our best shrinks with the aim of ridding himself of the control issues which he has. And what about resources? Unless the Board has been holding out on the BCC staff, or worst still, “redirecting funds” due to the institution, then Dr. Austin will have a real challenge instituting systemic quality in the institution. (Frankly, I would wager on “redirecting funds” because this would easily explain why the BCC has gotten a campus wi-fi but other infrastructure such as toilets, windows, doors, air-conditioning and simple electrical sockets remain untouched).

Of course, my analysis could be all wrong and it may be that Dr. Austin will not return to the OC. In that case, more power to BCC!

Government and Building a Society–BCC Part-time Workers Not Paid

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Submitted by Anthony Davis on 25/12/2014

“NEARLY 200 PART-TIME members of the academic staff of the Barbados Community COLLEGE (BCC) are singing the blues this Christmas. With just 24 hours to go before Christmas day, the workers say they still have not been paid for services performed in November” – Nation Newspaper 24/12/2014

First, let me ask a simple question. I only attended Brumley – and not for long – so please bear with me. Is it remotely possible that I will pick up a Nation, read BT or BU online or listen to CBC evening news, and not hear/read about something which is detrimental to some section of the tax payers of this country and attributable to this “people-centred” Government?

It was the BAPO yesterday who were not paid. Today it is the teachers at the BCC!

The irony of this all is that the Minister of Finance – the best one in the world – is being paid thousands of dollars monthly  from the taxes of the said people he neglects to pay. He and the other people who make up this Government do not have a care in the world, because their money is secure.

How do you expect people to work on hungry stomachs?

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Barbados Community College Principal Divides to Conquer

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Submitted by Neil Watchman

Minister of Education Ronald Jones (l) Dr. Gladstone Best, Principal of the BCC

Minister of Education Ronald Jones (l) Dr. Gladstone Best, Principal of the BCC

In December last year, it was rumoured that the Principal of the BCC, Dr. Gladstone (Gallstone) Best had decided to abolish the general staff meeting held on the first day of semester and instead, hold individual meetings with the various Divisions.  That was no rumour; to date the  Principal has held surreptitious meetings with two such Divisions: the Division of Commerce and the Division of General Education.  On both occasions outspoken tutors in either Division grilled him on this move and other matters. The lame duck CPAC (so-called College Planning and Advisory Committee) has requested (N.B. not “demanded”) that the meetings be restored.

By this act of ‘division’ the principal has effectively fractured an institution already alienated both in nomenclature and in spirit in order to maintain his tenuous position.  It is now recognized that his action was taken to preempt a planned motion of no confidence against him, a move advocated by some of the more militant members of staff.

The once-a-semester meeting allowed current members to meet new staff, hear about retirements, academic achievements etc. explanations for any contentious issues and keep staff up to date on pending actions.  Of course, staff members have used this occasion to vent their frustration with the administration (aka the Principal) which has come under increasing fire for a string of malfeasances ranging from late payments to staff (the Principal is chief Finance Officer according to the BCC Act)  to the dire state of the physical plant to deteriorating security.

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Barbados Community College Conversation Continued…

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  Barbados Community College Government and Politics 100 Outline.

Barbados Community College Government and Politics 100 Outline

Please find attached an image of partial course outline for Government and Politics 100 [allegedly] issued by Walthrust-Jones to Government & Politics students.  I emphasize this is not part of the official outline but is attached by WJ as though it IS part of the outline. Please observe the two notes I have made (1 and 2). These stipulations are inconsistent with the academic regulations and are therefore illegal:

  1. A student cannot get an F simply because he has not submitted all course work. In stead a temporary Grade I is assigned.
  2. An individual teacher cannot simply debar students from taking an exam.

The above was submitted by Neil Watchman.

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Destabilization of the Barbados Community College (BCC)

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Submitted Neil Watchman

Stephen Broome, Chairman of BCC

Stephen Broome, Chairman of BCC

There is growing concern among staff at the Barbados Community College where the Board or more accurately, the Chairman, seems to have developed a tight stranglehold on the institution. Staff cannot recall there ever being such a high level of politicization at the institution until the advent of Mr. Stephen Broome who served first as Deputy Chairman and is now in his second term as Chairman.

Some, perhaps out of fear, believe that the Chairman’s mission is to destabilize the institution as a precursor to the Government’s phasing it out. They point to the recent spate of sixth forms set up by the MOE headed by Ronald Jones in support of this supposition. This, coupled with the imposition of higher fees on UWI students from 2014 makes for a very confusing educational policy. One could be excused for thinking that the Government would have put more resources into the BCC but then again, if it didn’t do that when things were well, one cannot expect them to do it in these dire times. So what? Such confusion and contradictions seem symptomatic of the Freundel Stuart administration, anyhow.

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