Brief

BACK TO SCHOOL

The new format for the full return to school by students on September 19, was the result of several consultations.

This was conveyed to students, parents and guardians when Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, Kay McConney addressed a press briefing, live streamed to the public, from her Ministry’s headquarters at the Elsie Payne Complex, Constitution Road, St. Michael.

The Minister explained that the new format was a decision taken following

consultations with teachers’ unions, principals’ associations, principals, the National Council of Parents Teachers Associations and other partners. She further noted that the Ministry had also done so with the benefit of experience, over the last two-plus years of managing the educational environment with Covid-19, while navigating “the sometimes challenging waves of various instructional formats”.

Emphasising that the input of the Ministry of Health was paramount to the decision, she recalled: “Our intention has always been, and it remains, to deliver quality education that enables the best outcomes for students, while of course safeguarding health and well-being of our entire education community. You will recall that we went from online only instruction to blended or hybrid formats, where some classes were online and some were face-to-face; when classes took turns going to physical classroom spaces at school.

“We shifted students who were scattered across Barbados from learning in their informal living rooms to learning in formal classrooms again, when we returned to face-to-face school on February 21, this year. To respect the physical distancing mandate arising from Emergency Orders and Health Directives, students from the same school who were accustomed to learning together on one campus or location, were spread across multiple locations.”

Ms. McConney noted that her Ministry was advised by the Health Ministry on Monday, September 5, about the proposed format for Back to School and based on those discussions, and her Ministry’s consideration of what was in the best interest of all students, they determined that all students would return, in full, to their classrooms at the start of the school year.

“Students will no longer have to take turns going into physical classrooms,” she stated. Emphasizing that the school day would return to its pre-pandemic scheduling, the Education Minister said: “For example, schools that were in session from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. will return to that scheduling.”

Ms. McConney extended thanks to the private sector, churches and other faith based organisations, non-profit organisations and other institutional partners who provided schools with spaces, tents, platforms to put on the grass when the Ministry had to set up temporary structures, and “other covered facilities to make face-to-face school possible”, when the Ministry was “on the hunt for urgent accommodation”.

Also thanking her team and the public for supporting principals and teachers across the education system, she noted that together they “flexed, shifted and pivoted to make education accessible” and the learning environments safe, from nursery to tertiary levels.

“We did well together before, Barbados, and we can do well together again. The final term of the last academic year 2021-2022 served as our testing ground for necessary protocols; and it provided the Ministry of Education with the opportunity to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of systems and processes within schools that could serve to protect all persons on our school compounds. “I trust that we will enter this coming academic year that’s officially starting in nine days, with the confidence that we are capable of maintaining safe and wholesome environments for learning and development,” said Minister McConney. (PR/GIS)

Brief

Traffic Changes Around Kensington Oval On Cricket Match Days

Members of the public are advised that traffic changes have been put in place for Kensington Oval and its environs on the match days of the ICC Cricket Men’s T20 World Cup.

The Traffic Control (ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies, 2024) Rules, 2024, explain that “match day” means the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, and 29th of June, which are the dates matches are scheduled to be played at Kensington Oval.

However, where matches cannot be played on the specified dates above, there are alternative dates of the 3rd, 7th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 22nd, 24th, 25th, and 30th June, as the case may be. The traffic changes on match days, from 6:00 a.m. to midnight, are as follows:

Fontabelle Road from its junction with H. Jason Jones Complex to its junction with President Kennedy Drive, St. Michael, will be closed to all vehicular traffic.
Kensington New Road, from its junction with Baxters Road to its junction with Fontabelle Road will be a one-way road, with all vehicular traffic travelling in the direction of Baxters Road.
President Kennedy Drive from its junction with Westbury Road to its junction with Fontabelle Road will be closed to all vehicular traffic.
No person shall park any motor vehicle along Princess AIice Highway from its junction with Cowell Street to its junction with Harbour Road.
Pickwick Gap from its junction with Fontabelle Road to its junction with Westbury Road will be closed to all vehicular traffic, except for a motor vehicle displaying a motor vehicle access pass issued by the Barbados Local Organising Committee.
All vehicular traffic travelling along the Mighty Grynner Highway towards its junction with Holborn Circle will be diverted right only onto Prescod Boulevard Road.
No vehicular traffic will be allowed to turn left onto President Kennedy Drive or to proceed onto Fontabelle Road.
No driver or other person in charge of a motor vehicle shall park or allow the motor vehicle to remain stationary on the following roads or adjoining footpaths in St. Michael, except to pick up or set down passengers. Those roads are:
- Fontabelle Road from its junction with Lakes Folly to its junction with President Kennedy Drive
- Pickwick Gap from its junction with Westbury Road to the entrance of Kensington Oval
- Westbury Road from its junction with President Kennedy Drive to its junction with Baxters Road
- President Kennedy Drive from its junction with Richmond Gap to its junction with Fontabelle Road
- Cheapside Road
- Literary Road
- Redman Drive
- Lakes Folly
- Prescod Boulevard
- Princess Alice Highway
- Harbour Road
- Baxters Road
- Kensington New Road
- 10th Avenue, New Orleans
- Richmond Gap
- Passage Road
- Barbarees Hill Road
- Country Road
- Roebuck Street from its junction with Country Road to its junction with the James A. Tudor Roundabout
- Halls Road
- Belmont Road
- Martindale’s Road
- Eagle Hall Road
- Bank Hall Cross Road
- Bank Hall Main Road
- Mighty Grynner Highway, and
- Highway 1 from its junction with Holders Hill to its junction with Tudor Bridge.

Drivers of motor vehicles, pedestrians, riders, or leaders of animals using any of the above-mentioned roads during the times specified in the traffic rules are urged to exercise caution and comply with any order given by a member of The Barbados Police Service in uniform.

Any person who contravenes the traffic rules or fails to comply with any order given by a member of The Barbados Police Service in uniform commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of $500, or imprisonment for three months, or both.

These rules do not apply to vehicles used by The Barbados Police Service, the Barbados Defence Force, the Barbados Fire Service, an ambulance service, or any other emergency service. (PR/GIS)

Brief

Barbados’ New Ambassador To Cuba Presents Credentials

Barbados’ new Ambassador to the Republic of Cuba, Dr. Sharon Marshall, presented her Copy of Letters of Credentials to the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister, Josefina Vidal, on Monday, April 29, 2024.

Ambassador Marshall succeeds Philip St. Hill, following his recent retirement from the Foreign Service.

During the meeting, Dr. Marshall said it was a great honour to represent Barbados in her mother’s birthplace. She also reiterated Barbados’ commitment to cooperating with Cuba, in particular in the areas of health, education, tourism, environment, and agriculture.

Minister Vidal expressed Cuba’s willingness to further strengthen bilateral relations and promote exchanges in all sectors of common interest.

Cuba and Barbados have maintained ties of solidarity, respect and cooperation since the establishment of diplomatic relations in December 1972. (PR/GIS)

Brief

HALO AROUND THE SUN YESTERDAY

All eyes were fixed to the sky yesterday as Barbadians witnessed a rare optical phenomenon called a halo that appeared around the sun. The Barbados Meteorological Office explained that is was simply a ring of light that forms around the sun or moon as either of them retracts off ice crystals present in a thin layer of cirrus clouds. A halo is usually a bright white ring but it can have colours just as was visible yesterday.