Minister of Education, Ronald Jones.
This is the report Minister of Education Ronald Jones gave, as he broke his silence about the closing of the St. Peter-based institution, just days after word reached the public that his Ministry met with teachers on Monday, to inform them that the plug would be pulled on the school, established almost 22 years ago to cater to the specific needs of students with learning disabilities.
The teachers and students will be relocated to other secondary institutions.
Speaking at the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) weekly lunchtime lecture yesterday, Jones said the school’s current population stands at only 60 students, noting that no student who sat the Barbados Secondary Schools Entrance Examination (BSSEE), in the past two years, has passed for Alma Parris.
“Last year, no students from the 11 Plus went to Alma Parris. This year, no students from the 11 plus went to Alma Parris. So, Alma Parris was essentially imploding. It was essentially dying. To have just 60 students isolated from the regular school environment is wrong for those children, straight up!
“They were implanted in Speightstown; Police Station to the south, heavily trafficked road to the west, heavily trafficked road to the north and they were just in there,” Jones said.
The Minister explained that the school was opened in 1996, out of an experiment, to create an ideal teaching and learning environment to meet the needs of students who were scoring low marks in the Barbados Secondary Schools Entrance Examination. However, the Minister stated that the school never “truly” met its mandate, particularly in the last 15 years.
“I was the leader of the Union at the time, in 1995, when the idea started to develop. In fact, I made some input on the whole notion of special needs
education,” he said.
The Minister also made the point that any slower learner, especially if they are to qualify to sit the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate, needs more than the average five years at secondary school to excel.
“Remember, that used to be an abandoned facility that was refurbished. It never reached the type of infrastructural excellence that one would want.
“Anytime you have slow learners, people with special needs, they should be given the best that any system has to offer because they have already started from a low threshold,” he said.
“I have three schools this year, which out of taking in 450 children, took in 168; 50, 50 and 68. So I have excess capacity in three of those schools where the quality of teaching is extremely good.
“They are able to move children from that early learning deficit, into improved performance, or into improved behaviour, in a seven year period…,” he added.
Jones said that while there are some who may criticise his Ministry’s move to close the school, “that is their business; I have no interest in the nostalgia”.
“I have the interest in ensuring that those children are exposed to the best that the system can offer. I know I am going to hear the spewing of foolishness, but that does not bother me. We, who are in charge at the time, take the decision. The decision has been taken,” he said.
“The Barbados Vocational Training Board can utilise the facility. As far as I am concerned, [it could be] the Alma Parris training centre; do whatever work they have to on it, and train persons in vocational and technical skills in the north,” Jones suggested. (AH)