Sports in Barbados may stand to gain from University of the West Indies (UWI) students paying their own tuition frees.
Though not in agreement with the budgetary proposal, former secretary of the Athletic Association of Barbados, Joyann Clarke believes that local sports can prosper from the stipulation as more students might be forced now to look at attaining athletic scholarships to gain free education.
“I would think now a lot more high school kids would look to excel in sports and try to get out so they don’t have to pay these fees,” said Clarke, a physical education teacher at Ellerslie Secondary School.
“I guess in theory it should help our sports across Barbados because this could lead to us having more highly trained athletes in the country.
“And right now I find that athletes are coming out of high school then going to UWI and dropping out of sports when they focus on their education or other areas of their lives. This then might keep then in their sports and we may then have more top-level athletes to work with,” she added.
It’s about the only positive response Clarke had for the measure announced by Minister of Finance Christopher Sinckler during last week’s presentation of the Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals.
Starting in the academic year 2014/2015, full-time Barbadian students at UWI will have to pay tuition fees totalling $5 625 for the faculties of Humanities and Education, Social Sciences and Science and Technology; $8 808 for Law and $16 618 for Medical Sciences.
Sinckler’s reasoning for the measure was that Government “simply cannot continue to contract such huge amounts of expenditure”, but Clarke believes the move will lead directly to a rise of crime.
“People don’t seem to understand that the consequences are so far-reaching because I can risk to bet you there are very few people in Dodds who are in prison for murder or breaking and entering with a UWI degree,” argued Clarke.
“If Government truly looked at this seriously, then it would see it costs less to pay for a child to go through UWI for four years than to house a man at Dodds for ten to 15.”
Clarke did go on to say that UWI could still use this measure to further advance sports in Barbados by also providing more athletic scholarships and giving incentives to those students who play for their sporting teams.
“It could have a great impact on our sporting scene if UWI were to waive all the fees for kids who are on the cricket team, basketball team, hockey team and the other sporting teams they have,” said Clarke.
“I think it would encourage our athletes to stay in sports because, as I said before, a lot of our athletes are not seen from again once they leave high school.”
Barbadian athletes have been earning athletics scholarships from the 1960s.
Since then, hundreds have used that avenue to not only gain an education, but forge a career in sports.
Among the island’s most noted sportsmen and women who went away on scholarship are Sydney 2000 bronze medallist Obadele Thompson; 1998 Commonwealth Games champion Andrea Blackett; 2009 World Champion hurdler Ryan Brathwaite; 2007 World Youth Champion Shane Brathwaite; and 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games Champion Kierre Beckles.
Volleyballers from as far back as Arlene Grant, Jane Grant and Shirley Hoyte to Shari Matthews, Anicia Wood and Rhe-Ann Niles also went overseas on scholarships.
Basketballers Dwight Rouse, Mario Layne, Wanda Agard-Belgrave, Celia Collymore and Jamila Griffith-Studer as well as swimmers like Antonio Boyle and Lee-Ann Rose have also benefited from scholarship offers which are also available in golf, tennis and several other sports.