Parents are intervening in the dispute between the Barbados Secondary School Teachers’ Union (BSTU) and the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), and will be seeking a meeting with the regional body tomorrow.
That was the next step announced yesterday when BSTU and parents met to discuss the breakdown in the relationship between Barbados’ teachers and CXC over marking of School-Based Assignments (SBAs).
BSTU president Mary Redman
BSTU president Mary Redman explained to the few parents in attendance at the meeting the challenges experienced by teachers in taking on the SBAs, a crucial aspect of the CXC grading system but which is not part of the teachers’ job description, and repeated the union’s position that teachers would no longer be marking the papers and simply forwarding them to CXC.
But requesting a hold on any action, newly elected president of the Barbados National Council of Parent Teacher Association (BNCPTA) Sean Gibbs said the association would urgently arrange a meeting with BSTU.
He also undertook to have talks with CXC representatives.
“We will be seeking to make contact with CXC as early as Monday, first business day after this meeting, because there was a lot of anxiety surrounding what was really happening, and I think we’ve received the assurance from teachers that they will continue what they’ve always done,” Gibbs told the media.
BNCPTA president Sean Gibbs speaking at yesterday’s meeting