Students with talents beyond academics must be given the infrastructure and opportunities to succeed, according to veteran educator Idamay Denny, as Barbados moves to strengthen international cultural and educational partnerships.

Speaking at the Oceana Innovation Hub during a cultural exchange showcase involving New York’s Performing Arts Technology High School (PATHS) and Barbadian students on Wednesday, Denny, a former deputy chief education officer who spearheaded the government’s education reform project, said programmes like the one staged between PATHS, St Leonard’s Boys’ and Coleridge and Parry were critical to education transformation.

She said: “What I saw here this morning reinforces what I tell the people in the ministry about investing in our students in terms of transformation. We have to give you things that when you wake up in the morning, you want to get to school, and activities like what we saw here this morning are those kinds of activities.”