Established October 1895 Vaccinations critical to tourism industry’s recovery PAGE 3 Thursday June 10, 2021 $1 VAT Inclusive 11-PLUS SET FOR JULY 28 DUE to poor results from Examination will now take tional time is a serious prob- Examination, and those sitting action with their teachers. Our the Barbados Secondary place on July 28. lem, and believes that every- the CAPE and CSEC examina- students, for the most part, Schools’ Examination The announcement was thing possible has to be tions – while other age groups have been readjusting and re- Readiness Assessment, made during a press confer- done to ensure that lost time would have been returned to orienting themselves into the along with concerns ex- ence, with Minister of would be made up in the class- the blended approach, in many structured environment which pressed by teachers and Education, Technological and room. cases two days at school, three is offered by schools, and in stakeholders, the Ministry Vocational Training, Santia “We also made a conscious de- days at home and vice versa, the midst of all of this we’ve of Education, Technological Bradshaw outlining why the cision to prioritise those stu- from week to week,” she said. had a few disruptions to face-to- and Vocational Training decision was made. She ex- dents who are preparing to sit “But there are also some stu- face classes at both public and said yesterday that the plained that the ministry has examinations – the Common dents who respond well to private institutions. Barbados Secondary seen and acknowledged that Entrance or the Barbados online classes, while others EXAM DATE on Schools’ Entrance the impact of the loss of instruc- Secondary Schools’ Entrance struggle with face-to-face inter- Page 2 PROGRESS BEING MADE: Work has continued apace within the Constitution River Redevelopment project. The Barbados Advocate was on hand recently to see the heavy machinery at work as the project made significant progress. Minister urges employers to follow labour laws LOCAL employers are being re- General Meeting of the I’ve been recently assigned re- ence that labour legislation is and we’ve had representation minded of their responsibilities Barbados Hotel and Tourism sponsibility for the National meant to “bring equity and hu- over the years about areas that under the Severance Payments Association (BHTA), as he spoke Insurance Department, and we manity to the relationship be- seem to be deficient, where the Act, and are being told that in of the need for a human-centred will be going after those who tween employers and workers”, Employment Rights Act is con- the “unfortunate circumstance” approach to recovery from the owe the National Insurance but he admitted that the laws cerned.As a ministry,we are re- such payments become due and effects of the pandemic. money, including those who are not perfect. sponding to that and we have are not paid, they will be held “Government will not leave renege on their obligations “The work is continuing to reviewed all the submissions liable for those payments. workers to suffer,we will ensure under the Severance Payments take place in order to review and made. We have our own posi- So says Minister of Labour, that workers get what is theirs Act,” he said. improve the legislation on our tions based on those submis- Social Partnership Relations by law. The Government will His comments came as he statute books.We are currently sions, and will shortly be coming and the Third Sector, Colin also hold defaulting employers spoke of the efforts being made in the final stages of reviewing back to our Social Partners on Jordan. He made the comments accountable, and we will go after to improve various pieces of the Employment Rights Act what we are recommending for while delivering the feature ad- them for what is owed, and I labour legislation in this coun- and preparing rules for the the way forward,” he stated. dress during the virtual Annual want to be very clear about that. try.Jordan told the online audi- Employment Rights Tribunal, LABOUR on Page 4 2 • Thursday June 10, 2021 The Barbados Advocate No new Students need more COVID cases time to prepare for THE Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory did not record any new Common Entrance COVID-19 positive cases EXAM DATE from to face-to-face and many of from the 417 tests con- Page 1 our teachers have also ducted on Tuesday, June As a result, the been sacrificing and work- 8. There are 22 persons in Curriculum and ing tirelessly to make sure isolation. Examination sections of that students who would The number of recorded the Ministry of Education have been underperform- COVID-19 cases since worked together to set and ing were able to catch up in March, last year, is 4,032 administer the Barbados the face-to-face environ- (1,951 females and 2,081 Secondary Schools’ ment,” highlighted males), and there have Examination Readiness Bradshaw. been 47 deaths.The public Assessment for all Class 4 She added that apart health Laboratory has A total of 84,300 first Vaccination Programme been inoculated with the students, which was ad- from the Common carried out 174,587 tests doses have been adminis- for COVID-19. Addition- second dose of the vaccine ministered in both English Entrance Examination, since February 2020. tered under the National ally, 61,664 people have and are fully vaccinated. and mathematics on May there was only the 12, 2021. Unfortunately, Criterion Reference Tests the results were less than or assessments from Class stellar, as presented by 2 from which to gauge the Chief Education Officer performances of the stu- Joy Adamson,with the dents. Expanding further, mean scoring for she said that there was Mathematics being 41%, nothing besides the indi- 36% for public school and vidual tests that students 61% for private schools. In did in the classroom, upon the English Assessment, which the Ministry of average mean score was Education could properly 63% – 77% for private and transfer students out of 60% for the public schools. primary school and into Adamson explained that secondary school. the further analysis “It therefore means that showed that in many not having the ability to schools, the syllabus was look back at the Class 3 re- not completed, students sults, for instance, and see had more difficulty in un- where students were be- derstanding mathematical fore this pandemic, the de- concepts taught in the on- cision has been taken that line environment and al- we will hold the Common though the performance in Entrance Examination English was moderate, this year on the 28th of there was still a need to July, particularly because improve in all content many of our teachers have areas. The assessment re- said to us that the students sults also showed that require additional time. It more than 50% of students is difficult to say how much will need extra time to pre- time every child will need, pare for the BSSEE and but we believe that that is more than 50% students a reasonable time to allow would possibly proceed to for students to be able to secondary school with se- work on the concepts and vere deficits. to ensure that they have “Now the reality is that some of the foundational many of our students have things that are necessary been working extremely to be able to transition,” hard since they returned she said. (AS) Chief Education Officer, Joy Adamson. The Barbados Advocate Thursday June 10, 2021 • 3 BSTU has no issue with new exam date THE Barbados Secon- 2019. teachers, and these must rive at the agreements in dary Teachers’ Union It was also shown that be respected and actively the best interest of all in (BSTU) has no prob- the syllabus was not com- considered in the process. the face of these sacri- lem with the announ- pleted due to disruptions They are the ones that fices.” ced July 28 date set to the school system, teach at that level; they The BSTU head also for the Barbados caused by the COVID-19 assess; and they have stated that the union is Secondary Schools’ pandemic. asked for more time to happy to hear of the ini- Entrance Examination Redman noted that re- deal with the deficits that tiatives or what has been (BSSEE), commonly sults of the assessment our children have demon- announced as measures known as the 11-Plus done are clear that there strated.” towards this process of exam. are serious deficits gen- She noted that the educational reform, So says BSTU presi- erally, and more particu- BSTU will meet with which she opined is long dent Mary-Anne Red- larly in Mathematics, ministry officials and be overdue. man, while responding to with students at that an integral part of negoti- “This is something that the announcement by level. ations with regard to the we have been clamoring Minister of Education “Even in the best of time frame between the for at all levels in our sys- Santia Bradshaw yester- years, too many students official end of the school tem. We have repeatedly day of the new date for enter secondary school year and the start of the emphasised the need for the exam and the findings with deficits in Maths, 11-Plus exam date, and educational reform, with of the BSSEE Readiness and the BSTU has re- also the commencement an emphasis on soft skills Assessment. peatedly asked over time of the new school year. at the level of the primary The findings revealed that there be some adjust- “The implications of all school, and a reduction in BSTU president, Mary-Anne Redman.