Barbados Faces Decline in Child Literacy Due to Pandemic Disruptions: Expert Insights

The decline in literacy among children in Barbados is a concern for education officials.

Much of this decline has been attributed to the absence of face-to-face classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, where some students lacked the necessary attention to develop their reading and learning skills.

Chairperson of the National Task Force on Literacy Education (NTFLE) Dr Sylvia Henry stated that where the literacy rate in the island pointed to 97-99 per cent circa 2019, those metrics were affected by both the pandemic and changes to UNESCO’s definition of literacy.

Literacy is now encompassed by a person’s capacity to understand; digital literacy, and informational literacy along with all the skills necessary for workplace functioning and lifelong learning.

“That [97-99 per cent] was recognised at a time when the definition of literacy was having the ability to write a simple sentence about himself or herself, or read a simple sentence about him or herself, or maybe read a simple Bible verse.

“We have to revisit that definition, and we need to have up-to-date surveys. We also have to prepare our schools to teach, have instructional activities, and the curriculum necessary to have that definition come to mean in our society,” she explained.

The information came to light during a service marking International Literacy Day, held at the Western Light Church of the Nazarene in Oxnards, St James recently.

The International Literacy Day celebrated annually on September 8 draws attention to literacy and the role it plays in a developing world. To celebrate, the National Task Force on Literacy Education (NTFLE) made donations of books to organisations which enforce literacy.

These included the Barbara Bellamy Reading Club and the Barbados Prison Service, which also received a donation of books from the Rotary Club of Barbados West. Colouring books, story picture books, and novels were available from a spread of books from the NTFLE – one of the bodies tasked by the Ministry to rekindle the interest in reading – for members of the congregation.

In addressing the decline, Chief Education Officer within the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw outlined several initiatives to boost the literacy rate.

One of these initiatives has been in place since January and involves training teachers on structured approaches to the teaching of reading.

“From January this year, the Ministry of Education tasked the Erdiston Teachers Training College with rolling out courses and programmes in the teaching of reading, to help our teachers be on the cutting edge in terms of their delivery.

“In addition to that, we have embarked on ensuring that our education officers and some of our very outstanding teachers across the system can access the training. We sent some of them to Jamaica to engage in the Lindamood Bell training, and that would indeed teach them how to teach reading in a more structured way,” Archer-Bradshaw explained.

The Lindamood-Bell training is one of several teaching programmes for those who face difficulties reading. It is multi-sensory and engages different senses in helping students make connections between sounds, letters and words.

Bradshaw was assured this method would present a clearer structure for educators, in contrast with current teaching methods which often use a more eclectic approach.

Meanwhile, Henry also stressed the community’s role in helping children improve on their literacy skills, praising the work undertaken by literacy clubs, and the little libraries initiatives that have been set up in districts.

The education officials also outlined initiatives geared at helping children with special needs or difficulties with hearing, sight, or speech capacity with programmes through the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Archer-Bradshaw stated: “We recognised that over the past two years, the number of children diagnosed with autism has increased. So when we see children not being able to read, it does not necessarily mean that they just don’t want to, they might have some difficulty that we first need to identify and then intervene,” she added.