The Babb’s Reading Clinic has seen a dramatic surge in enrollment for its 2025 edition, as parents seek urgent help to address their sons’ reading challenges.
Speaking at the official launch of the clinic at the Barbados Community College on Monday, founder Dr Astra Babb revealed that this year’s cohort is the largest since the programme’s inception, with 130 boys registered for the five-week literacy intervention — a 62 per cent increase compared to last year’s 80.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we enrolled 67 boys in the Babb Reading Clinic in 2023. Last year, 2024, we enrolled 80 boys. This year, the Babb’s Reading Clinic will cater to its largest cohort of students yet, with 130 boys registered for the five-week exercise,” Dr Babb said.
“Unfortunately, we had the difficult task of having to disappoint a significant number of prospective participants due to a lack of resources. These boys on the register are from nine to 15 years old.”
The enrolled students, all boys between the ages of 9 and 15, represent a growing demographic of young readers in crisis, many of whom are already struggling in the classroom.
“One mother said, ‘Dr Babb, please rescue my son, he is repeating first form’. My heart broke, ladies and gentlemen. It was calls like that, that caused us to end up with a roll of 130 boys,” Dr Babb explained.
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