The public school system is set for an overhaul.
Minister of Education and Technical and Vocational Training, the Hon. Glenys Hanna Martin said, “all of the research is showing that many children globally have suffered from psychological impacts as a result of the isolation and all of the challenges that came with virtual learning and shutdowns etc. We have formed a committee and that committee has now made recommendations as to how we can evaluate children at risk and create interventions.”
The Minister has several aspects of education under review including the Bahamas High School Diploma, interventions for at risk children and the curriculum. The results of these assessments will serve to guide she and her team as they aim to create progress in the public school system. Hanna Martin said, “we are closely reviewing GLAT results as they happen, grade three and grade six. And so that we can have interventions because what we are seeing, is some challenge in literacy for many of our young people. When they speak about social promotion, this is one of the things they are talking about, that there are challenges but the child keeps moving through without an appropriate solidified intervention. We’re gonna intervene and even its in high school we ga intervene. We don’t want any of our children leaving a Bahamian high school without being able to adequately read and write.”
The Ministry will also focus on Bahamian history in its updated curriculum. One this the Minister said, “this Davis Administration has made a decision that we are going to create a history text that allows our young people to understand the journey of its people, which is the loyalists, its the crossing of the middle passage, it is the journey of Payne, it is the road of liberation, it is the story of independence and on and on. And this text is underway, well underway and we are expecting that in the next several months we will be able to produce a new, first time ever, history text for our young people. And this is designed for the BGCSE.”
