'Education in Barbados Essay\r'

'Barbados had one of the oldest and most advanced watchion organisations in the Eastern Caribbean in the modern mid-eighties. Education dated back to 1686, when surreptitious funds were used to build the first school. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, study was controlled by the Anglicans, who were later joined by other religious groups. By 1962 pedagogy was free for all nationals and administered primarily by the state.\r\nThis trend continued, so that by 1984 lonesome(prenominal) 4 percent of the primary and substitute schools were managed by churches. Barbados’ longstanding emphasis on education was evident in the determine and goals of contemporary society.\r\nEducation has traditionally been associated with achievement and upward mobility. In 1970 Barbados officially claimed to remove achieved a 99-percent literacy rate, a figure that was questioned by some observers. De maliciousness these doubts, observers generally concur that in the 198 0s literacy in Barbados exceeded the place of other Caribbean societies. In 1984 Barbados had 126 primary schools, one hundred ten of which were administered by the state. Approximately 1,350 teachers were available to instruct the 35,000 students. There were sixty-four standby schools, quin of which desexualised students for technical careers.\r\nA marrow of 6,000 students attended secondary-school programs. Postsecondary education consisted of seven institutions that awarded degrees or certificates. Four schools offered specific vocational instruct: the Barbados Institute of Management and Productivity, the Erdiston Teacher’s Training College, the Tercentenary School of Nursing, and the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytecnic. donnish programs at the university level were conducted at the undermine Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Barbados Community College, which offered vocational and technical classes as well.\r\nThe UWI also include Codri ngton College, a local theological seminary. In 1979 the government created the Skills Training Programme to augment existing education programs. It was designed to run the need for short but intensifier training in vocational subjects and to prepare students for careers in mechanics, electronics, horticulture, masonry, plumbing, and other technical and vocational occupations. Although the educational infrastructure was designed to hurt both the nation’s donnish and vocational needs, observers seriously questioned Barbados’ ability to stomach quality instruction in palm related to tourism, agriculture, and manufacturing, the major economic undertakings in the 1980s.\r\nFew courses were actually offered in coarse science and commerce; as a result, an inadequate turn of Barbadians were being lively to take on the responsibilities inherent in a growing economy. The education dust was also criticized for being stratified on socioeconomic lines. In general, upper -class Barbadians wide-awake for university studies at the shell primary and secondary schools, received a disproportionate number of scholarships, and had the best records for entering the professional disciplines.\r\nOn balance, however, most Barbadians felt that the education system still afforded opportunities to achieve at least limited upward mobility. The government appeared to be attempting to address specific criticisms of its educational indemnity; its goals for Barbadian education in the 1980s included the promotion of equal educational opportunity and enhanced technical and vocational programs in all schools. In spite of its shortcomings, the Barbadian education system remained the best in the Eastern Caribbean in the 1980s.\r\n'