BUT raises red flags over school readiness

Despite a shift to year-round school maintenance, the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) on Monday called for early maintenance work at schools, declaring that delays often mean schools are not ready when teachers arrive for the first week, while rushed work could affect the quality of repairs.

Even as most schools opened as planned, a few were not ready to receive children, with work incomplete and teachers having to prepare classrooms while cleaning and other work was still being carried out.

BUT First Vice-President Julian Pierre told Barbados TODAY: “There still has to be some adjustment as to when the summer maintenance programme begins, giving sufficient time for the schools to be finished and ready by September 1 and not by the first day to receive students.