BSTU meeting with Education officials

NINE MEMBERS of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) are currently engaged in sit down discussions with June Chandler, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, and other Ministry officials.

Just after 10 this morning, eight BSTU member, led by President Mary Redman, entered the office for what Redman called, “a long awaited meeting”.

Redman, who spoke briefly to media after arriving at the Constitution Road office said: “There are many issues surrounding Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) and the Introduction of Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) as well, so we are hoping for a good meeting. We expect however, that this will be the first in a series of meetings”.

There has been persistent agitation for close to a decade by the BSTU with different key players in the Ministry of Education to have a hearing on issues relating to the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) and the School Based Assessments.

While outlining the burden of correcting CXC related projects, Redman showed a 108 paged Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) project, noting that the teacher had a class of 70 students, lower and upper sixth combined. 

“And the teacher teaches Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), CCSL and CVQ,” Redman noted. (LK)