Against an outcry of deviant behaviour among some of the student population, patron of The St Michael Centre For Faith And Action (SMCFA), Sir Trevor Carmichael, has suggested schools’ curricula in Barbados should be “re-engineered” to provide for the teaching of values.
He indicated the time had come to reintroduce subjects that served to develop good citizens, and acknowledged these were currently omitted from the curriculum. But he believes they provide the kind of knowledge which would serve to alter the trend of deviant behaviour currently being exhibited in Barbados.
“There is no doubt that our educational curriculum needs a certain amount of re-engineering,” said Sir Trevor while responding to a question from the floor at the Frank Collymore Hall, where he delivered the (SMCFA) inaugural Dean’s Lecture on Thursday.
In his presentation he traced the history of the Anglican Church in developing education in Barbados, and highlighted the church’s significant contribution before its disestablishment in 1969.
Dr Rosina Wiltshire during question time pressed Sir Trevor for his thoughts on the need to return to teaching religious instruction and ethics, which she said could contribute to being “a good citizen,” but which had “dropped off the educational system”.
“Is there a role to be played in reintroducing the elements of ethics (and) civics into our education system so that every child has the opportunity to learn what it is to be a good citizen?” Wiltshire asked.
He said: “The matter of violence . . . . I am convinced that we have to deal with this problem at source. We have to look at re-engineering the curriculum, and making it possible that young people find so many other things that are attractive and exciting other than what the more deviant members now indulge in.”
The role of religious education in the church and state relationship was also highlighted by retired educator Senator Alwyn Adams in his question posed to Sir Trevor.
Adams recalled that every church once had a girls’ and boys’ elementary school attached as mandated by Barbados’ first Bishop, Sir William Hart Coleridge, one of the driving forces behind the creation of an early education system in Barbados.
The core objectives of the St Michael Centre for Faith and Action, formed in May 2017, are the advancement of public education and religion, the promotion of purposes beneficial to the community and the relief of poverty. (GC)
