he Free National Movement holds that every Bahamian is entitled to the opportunity to be educated so as to achieve a proper standard of living and full development as a human being; to develop the intellect, to understand readily, to cultivate the ability to communicate orally and in writing; to condition the will to live and work ethically.
The Free National Movement seeks to provide all Bahamians with the opportunity to gain the necessary beliefs, attitudes, knowledge and skills required for work and life in a democratic, Christian country.
In 1992 the Free National Movement found public buildings and many schools in the most dilapidated condition, and the education system in disarray. Oversized classes, unmanageably large secondary schools, both in New Providence and in Grand Bahama, demoralised teachers; and shortages of critically essential tuition materials and supplies, were the order of the day.
Having completed repairs and modifications
to virtually every one of the nation’s existing educational facilities, including the College of The Bahamas and The Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute, the Free National Movement Government built two new senior high schools and a primary school in Freeport; two new primary schools in New Providence, one in Flamingo Gardens and the other in Pinewood Gardens, and one new primary school in Simms, Long Island.
And, having expanded the Carmichael Primary School in New Providence and the Abaco Secondary School, and constructed extensions to schools at Grand Cay, Moore’s Island and Dundas Town, Abaco, Acklins, Crooked Island, and Eight Mile Rock in Grand Bahama; and having completed the extension to the C.C. Sweeting Junior High School in New Providence, the Free National Movement has done a creditable job in reducing and maintaining acceptable class size in primary and secondary schools.
The Free National Movement Government has, during the past four and a half years, created an additional 6,310 student places in government operated schools.
Having put specialist rooms - music, art and craft, science labs - in all new primary schools, as a matter of policy; and having increased the number of pre-schools within the Primary School System from two in 1992, to nineteen in 1996, the Free National Movement Government has set in train a programme to ensure pre-school classes are available at all primary schools by the year 2000.
And, having constructed the first-ever Early Childhood Education Centre at East Street South, funded from savings resulting from reductions in the salaries of the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament, beginning in September, 1992, the FNM Government, in addition to commitments contained in Manifesto 92, in a second term will:
Establish Pre-School Centres at all Government maintained Primary Schools by the year 2000.
Re-introduce separate junior secondary schools to the Government operated school system.
Expand the Day Work Experience programme to include students of grades 10 - 12.
Institutionalise, as a requirement for graduation from high school, a minimum number of hours of community service in one or more of: the geriatrics hospitals and other government or church supported homes for the aged, government hospitals and clinics, early childhood education centres, the children’s emergency hostel, adult education and children’s reading centres, public libraries, museums and galleries, charities and church supported outreach programmes.
Strengthen agricultural science programmes in all schools, requiring schools to maintain flower and/or vegetable gardens.
Emphasize delivery of the core curriculum (English, Mathematics, Religious Education, Social Studies, Physical Education, and a Science subject, i.e. Biology, General Science, Physics, Chemistry, Health Science, Combined Science).
Ensure that all students receive training in the use of computers and in the manipulation of information through computers, for educational purposes.
Link all schools to cable television, and introduce "Distance Education" Programmes; particularly for isolated, small Family Island Schools without full complements of specialist teachers.
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Implement a five year teacher education plan (1996/97 - 2000/2001) to improve instruction in academic and technical/vocational subjects. The programme will include internships in business and industry, teacher exchange, computer training, and the use of technology to improve instruction.
Emphasise technical/vocational education in New Providence and Family Island secondary schools and establish articulation agreements with The Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute and The Bahamas Hotel Training College, for exposure/transfer of senior students.
Establish a Teachers Service Commission, responsible for approving employment, training, re-training and discipline of teachers.
Publish works (prose, poetry, art) by students and teachers, as well as textbooks by teachers, for use in our schools, libraries and elsewhere, as appropriate.
Implement plans for the creation of a National Library.
Develop Magnet Schools for senior high students, to be identified on a non-discriminatory basis for Cultural Arts, Hotel and Catering, Business and Computer Studies, Mathematics and Science, and Construction Trades.
Make available fully-funded scholarships and stipends to Family Island students who live in areas too small to justify high schools, to enable them to attend high schools on other islandg including New Providence.
Offer instruction in Spanish in all Government schools beginning at primary school level.
Enact legislation to establish The Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute as an autonomous institution.
Convert a portion of the former US Base at Governor’s Harbour into a first class technical and vocational school, to train young Bahamians to meet the needs of the economy.
Expand technical/vocational course offerings to equip young adults with skills for employment or as self-employed entrepreneurs. These will include industrial sewing and design, handicraft production, painting and decorating, wall paper hanging, domestic service, masonry, tile and marble laying. Training as electrical, air conditioning, refrigeration and stove repair technicians will also be available.
Extend Government funding to assist technical and vocational education graduates to acquire equipment for self-employment in their fields of expertise.
Extend tax concessions on Real Property Tax and/or Business Licence Fees to businesses which employ adult graduates of the technical and vocational education programme.
Establish effective technical and vocational education programmes in the two new Freeport High Schools.
Construct and equip gyms to facilitate proper athletic training of Grand Bahama youth.
Continue the expansion of school and community libraries and the construction of community centres in densely populated areas, to provide needed space for young children and young adults to study, to organise community activities and to participate in generally healthy free-time activities.
Construct another high school on Grand Bahama.
Construct two new senior secondary schools in New Providence, one in South Beach and the other near Imperial Park.
Provide on Eleuthera, through expansion of the Preston Albury High School and the refurbishment of the Governor’s Harbour School, adequate secondary school places for students 11 years and older.
Continue to upgrade, on all Family Islands, existing secondary schools and secondary sections of all-age schools.
Construct new primary schools in Abaco, Exuma, Andros and Freeport, Grand Bahama, and new secondary schools at Eleuthera and Bimini.
Implement, fully, the approved teacher career path programme.
Implement a special programme for the training of Nurses, which will award a Diploma in Nursing.
Provide for the construction of a new Health Science Building at the College of The Bahamas, to include facilities for the practical training of laboratory technologists, physiotherapists, pharmacists, dental hygienists, speech therapists, biomedical and environmental health technologists, operating theatre technologists, and other allied health care workers.
Expand the Cadet Corps programme to include such specialties as marine science, engineering, foreign service, tourism and financial services.
Establish a Faculty of Law at the College of The Bahamas in cooperation with the University of the West Indies, and establish a School of Law under the Council of Legal Education. This would be the third School of Law for the region, the Norman Manley Law School (Jamaica) and the Hugh Wooding Law School (Trinidad) being the others. |