BARBADOS' CORPORATE SECTOR needs to invest more in education.

Principal of Garrison Secondary School Matthew Farley said that while schools had "made progress" in some areas, they had to "struggle with limited or inaccessible resources, which makes it difficult to effectively deliver the curriculum in a manner that meets the diverse needs of all our students".

He was speaking at the recent speech day and prize-giving ceremony held in the Mannie Bowen Auditorium, at the Paddock Road, St Michael school.

"While successive governments can boast of spending between 17-20 per cent of the annual expenditure on education, very little of that actually filters down into what happens in the classroom. In some instances, there are no funds to do what has to be done.

"In some ways, we have made progress while in others we struggle."

Farley said most of the money went in paying salaries and for things like maintenance of buildings.

"I am making a call for more money to put into the curriculum which is the hub of what really happens in schools.

"Government cannot do it all, and perhaps the time is ripe for the private sector to invest more into education,
a process from which they continue to benefit in real terms," he said.

The principal also spoke of the need for the school to have better relationships with parents and guardians. He wants them to get more involved.

"On another level, we see the need to forge better relations with parents and guardians, many of whom need
help in raising children in today's fast-paced society; many of whom need a better understanding of their role in the socialisation of their child or ward."

He outlined the profile of the child who presented challenges to the school:

* lack of supervision;

* invariably has an absent or ineffective father;

* busy and stressed-out mother pursuing her own life goals;

* lack of parental guidance and rules at home;

* a false sense of the purpose of school and of life; and

* the influence of the drug culture and the culture of violence and lawlessness.

"This list goes on and on," Farley added. "This situation often sees the home and the school, the teacher and the parent who is working on the same work of art, doing so at cross-purposes.

"As a consequence, the child is confused and literally stripped down the middle. I do not want to turn this address into a lingering lament but suffice it to say, this makes our job as teachers in the classroom more challenging." (DS)