Minister of Finance Ryan Straughn has expressed concern about the decline in this year’s national average English score in the Barbados Secondary Schools Entrance Examination, warning that literacy challenges could limit future opportunities for the country’s children.
Speaking recently at the opening of Babb’s Reading Clinic at the Barbados Community College, he said the national average English score had fallen from 72.5 per cent last year to 64.2 per cent this year.
“I don’t need to tell you that we need to jump-start, kick-start and amplify our efforts,” he told the gathering of parents, educators, sponsors and more than 100 boys enrolled in the five-week programme.
Straughn said Government, through the Ministry of Educational Transformation, was working to address literacy difficulties within the school system, but initiatives such as the reading clinic were also critical to closing the gap.
“These are not just numbers. Behind them are thousands of children and a story that we know we must tell and craft.”
He cautioned against allowing children to believe that their performance in a single examination would determine their future.
“Somewhere, somehow, children may have walked away from that exam thinking and believing something that is actually not true – that one test score will define you for life. It does not.”
The minister said reading was not an ability with which people were automatically born, but a skill developed “one page, one chapter, one book at a time”. He also described literacy as both an educational and economic issue.
“A boy who struggles to read today may struggle to seize the opportunities of tomorrow. The boy who cannot confidently read a job offer, a lease or a business arrangement is not simply lacking ambition; he might grow into a man lacking access,” he said.
Straughn urged parents to take an active role in improving their children’s literacy by encouraging them to read widely and questioning them about what they had read. He recalled that, as a child, his grandmother required him to read the NATION and Advocate newspapers every morning and provide a summary before going to school.
He added the exercise strengthened his ability to understand, remember and question information, and suggested parents could introduce similar activities at home.
Founder and organiser Dr Astra Babb said the clinic had initially set a maximum enrolment of 100 boys this year, but demand had forced organisers to exceed that number, with parents continuing to request places.
She said some parents were confronting the reality that their sons could repeat first form for a second time, while others had children approaching the end of secondary school without being able to read.
“I believe all taxpayers, all parents and all Government educational institutions need to engage in serious introspection. What is it that some of us are not doing correctly?” Babb asked.
She suggested Government consider placing specialist reading teachers in secondary schools, similar to the subject specialists assigned to areas such as biology and chemistry.
“If children are entering secondary school with an extremely limited capacity to read, then perhaps it is time for the Government to place specialist teachers in secondary schools to teach basic reading skills,” she said.
During the programme, the boys will receive 75 hours of reading instruction and related activities. They will be assessed during the first two days and placed in small classes based on their individual needs.
The programme will cover phonics, sentence construction and reading comprehension, while educational tours will be used to help participants discuss, write and read about their experiences.
Ten teachers and several volunteers will provide instruction, with class sizes generally limited to between ten and 12 boys.
The Barbados Defence Force will also work with participants twice weekly, while Government is providing free meals for the duration of the clinic.
Straughn praised Babb and her team for sustaining the initiative over the past nine years and urged the participants to approach the programme with discipline.
“Reading will open doors, but it is discipline that will keep those doors open,” he said.
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