The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie said yesterday his administration is committed to ensuring that no learning disability goes undetected in the public school system.

Mr Christie said that for years, the educational system has failed to notice special needs cases – a fact which has led to uncontrolled social promotion.

He made the comments at the EP Roberts Primary School, where he brought remarks at the official ceremony of the Z Bandits annual summer youth camp.

“It’s a no brainer, we have to avoid social promotion. It just doesn’t make sense. A country like the Bahamas ought to be able to assist the whole educational system in being much better and more productive. I expect my Minister of Education to be committed to doing the big things that are necessary to put the educational system on the right path.

“Where the learning is impaired, we have to be able to find the right way for that child to have that impairment (corrected). I’m saying no longer will the education system have an excuse that there are children in a school whose particular disadvantage in terms of learning disorders is not known to the school,” Mr Christie said.

The government, the Prime Minister said, will continue to stand by its commitment to double the country’s investment in education and training.

He said the government believes there should be no incremental approach to tackling education’s shortcomings, but instead an active approach to finding the right formula.

“The whole purpose of our starting the Urban Renewal programme was for communities where a lot of disadvantaged people live, for us to get a better understanding of the challenges people face. We ought to be able to know the home that the child comes from and the challenges of that home.

“Some of these children come from homes with single mothers where the mothers have not worked for a year. God knows how they do it.”

Mr Christie said his government will not turn a blind eye to such cases.

“We have to design a policy to ensure that children are not immeasurably disadvantaged by where they come from. Some where along the line, the state should be able to make up for the lack of means by the parent,” Mr Christie said.