Barbados risks deeper social deterioration unless urgent and coordinated action is taken to tackle the root causes of gun violence, the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CMPI) has warned.
Speaking during a press conference at Golden Square, The City, veteran educator and CMPI member Ian Marshall said the worsening situation, particularly among young men, demands a unified national response among key institutions.
“My take on the way society is going in terms of the violence is that it has to be a holistic approach. It can’t be us just pointing fingers at each other. We blame the parents. Parents blame us. We blame the politicians, we blame the police, but everybody has to come on board, and that is the only way we can solve our problems going forward,” Marshall said.
Barbados has recorded over 20 homicides so far this year, with a surge in gun-related killings. Multiple shootings have been recorded in recent weeks, including brazen attacks in public spaces, highlighting both the growing use of firearms and the increasing frequency of violent incidents across communities.
Marshall described the loss of young lives as a national tragedy, warning that continued violence threatens the country’s long-term social and economic stability.
“Now I think it’s a tragedy that young Black men are taking their lives, especially at a time when we need those lives most of all to build a society, because without these young men and young women playing their part, society has no future,” he said.
He argued that early intervention within the education system remains critical, noting that behavioural issues often emerge at the primary school level.
“Now we see issues in the schools from very young and as educators we have been calling for certain things to be put in place because when we don’t deal with those issues at the root level, then they balloon into bigger issues as time progresses,” Marshall said.
While acknowledging the role of law enforcement, he stressed that policing alone cannot resolve the crisis, as many offenders first encounter behavioural challenges within the school system.
“The police come at the end… and the police can tell you that they often go back to the schools, not the secondary schools, but also the primary schools, and that’s where it starts,” Marshall said.
He called for a broader educational focus beyond core academic subjects, advocating for life skills, critical thinking, and stronger cultural grounding.
“We can’t only concentrate on the English and the Mathematics, but we need to be able to teach children skills, teach them to reason and teach them to think,” he said, adding that reconnecting young people with history remains essential to understanding present-day social challenges.
“The Barbadian society has been built on violence… and that violence has continued up to this point… it’s just that the youth now are finding new and more innovative ways to do it,” he said.
The veteran educator also pointed to resource constraints and gaps in student development, insisting that schools require greater support to effectively respond to the challenges facing young people.
“We have to be there on board. We have to be more cautious. We have to have the staff. We have to have the wherewithal to be able to deal with the problems that face us as a people.
“I think there has been a total shift away from the values that we had, that we held most dearly, that we taught, that we passed on to our children… I don’t see them. They’re being eroded daily,” he said, questioning “where have we gone wrong?”
(SZB)
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