Carib Scope

标签： Barbados

巴巴多斯

  • Sun rises on new Barbados-Antigua route as carrier makes maiden flight

    Sun rises on new Barbados-Antigua route as carrier makes maiden flight

    On Wednesday, Caribbean regional carrier Sunrise Airways marked a major milestone in its regional expansion with the official launch of a new twice-weekly direct air service connecting Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados, a development welcomed by tourism and aviation leaders across the region as a critical step forward for Caribbean integration and economic cooperation.

    The inaugural flight touched down at Barbados’ Grantley Adams International Airport just after midday, capping off years of steady growth for the airline. Founded in 2010 by former Haitian pilot Philippe Bayard, who also serves as company president, Sunrise Airways launched commercial operations in 2012 and has built its footprint across the Caribbean gradually, offering both scheduled passenger services and custom charter flights. Headquartered in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the carrier has prioritized expanding its Eastern Caribbean network in recent years, filling gaps in regional connectivity that have long limited travel and trade between island nations.

    During a celebratory press briefing following the inaugural flight’s arrival, Sunrise Airways CEO Gary Stone framed the new route as a core part of the carrier’s long-term “One Caribbean” strategic vision. This vision centers on knitting Caribbean island communities closer together while unlocking new opportunities for tourism, cross-border commerce, business exchanges, and family travel across the region.

    “We are incredibly proud to launch operations at Grantley Adams International Airport, located in one of the Caribbean’s most iconic and well-regarded travel destinations,” Stone stated. “This direct link from Antigua and Barbados will elevate regional connectivity, give travelers far more flexible options for cross-island trips, and allow passengers to experience the warm hospitality and industry-leading service that sets Sunrise Airways apart.”

    Stone emphasized that the route launch carries far more significance than simply adding a new stop to the airline’s route map. “Today, we are not just inaugurating a new air route,” he explained. “We are strengthening commercial, tourism, and cultural ties, while driving forward inclusive economic growth and deeper integration across the entire Caribbean community.” As of 2024, Sunrise Airways has served millions of passengers across 20 destinations spanning the Caribbean, North America, and Central America, a milestone that Stone says reflects the company’s unwavering commitment to serving the region’s travel needs.

    Barbados’ Minister of Tourism and International Transport Ian Gooding-Edghill echoed that optimism, noting that the new connection will deliver a substantial boost to the Caribbean’s intra-regional tourism sector. “The Caribbean remains Barbados’ third largest source market for visitors,” Gooding-Edghill shared. “Last year alone, we welcomed more than 102,000 travelers from across the Caribbean region, and with increased intra-regional air capacity, we are confident that visitor numbers will continue on an upward trajectory.”

    Like Stone, Gooding-Edghill framed the launch as more than just an expansion of air service. “Today’s launch is more than the arrival of a new flight,” he said. “It is a vital step forward in deepening the bonds of our Caribbean family and strengthening intra-regional travel connectivity.” The minister emphasized that consistent, reliable airlift is the backbone of the Caribbean’s tourism industry, supporting small and large businesses, attracting foreign direct investment, and keeping extended Caribbean families connected across island borders.

    Gooding-Edghill added that the route will create mutual benefits for both Antigua and Barbuda and Barbados, giving travelers a new direct option that eliminates the need for inconvenient connecting flights between the two destinations. Beyond the two core markets, the minister highlighted the ripple effects of Sunrise Airways’ broader regional network: the new link will give Barbados-based travelers improved access to 10 other Caribbean destinations, including Haiti, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Martin, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It also opens new pathways for international travel, thanks to Sunrise Airways’ existing routes to major U.S. cities including Boston, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Newark, which could strengthen Barbados’ overall global connectivity in the long term.

    “As we celebrate today’s milestone, Barbados continues to reaffirm its commitment to continuously review our options as we seek to enhance and drive more arrivals to the destination,” Gooding-Edghill added.

    To serve its expanding network, Sunrise Airways operates a mixed fleet of owned and leased turboprop and jet aircraft, tailored to meet the unique needs of Caribbean travel: five Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprops, three British Aerospace Jetstream 32s, one Cessna Caravan 208, and two Airbus A320-200 jets. This fleet mix allows the carrier to efficiently handle both short-haul inter-island flights and higher-capacity long-distance routes to the United States.

  • Sir Garfield Sobers (1936-2026) Friends of Democracy pays tribute

    Sir Garfield Sobers (1936-2026) Friends of Democracy pays tribute

    The global cricketing community and the Caribbean island nation of Barbados are in collective mourning this week, after the passing of one of cricket’s most iconic figures, The Right Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers. The National Hero of Barbados died last Friday, just a handful of days before he was set to celebrate his 90th birthday, prompting an outpouring of remembrances and accolades from across the world.

    In an official statement released to the public, Friends of Democracy (FOD) general secretary Steve Blackett captured the deep sense of loss that has spread across Barbados and the wider Caribbean region. Blackett, who previously served as social care minister during the 2013 to 2018 Democratic Labour Party administration, emphasized that Sir Garfield’s influence stretched far beyond the boundary ropes of the cricket pitch.

    “Barbados, the Caribbean, and the cricketing world mourn the passing of one of the greatest sportsmen ever to grace the game,” Blackett said. “Sir Garfield Sobers was far more than a legendary cricketer. He was an ambassador for Barbados, a symbol of excellence, humility, determination, and national pride. His achievements placed our small island on the world stage and inspired millions across generations.”

    Blackett walked through the unmatched athletic milestones that cemented Sir Garfield’s status as a global sporting legend early in his career. At just 21 years old, the Barbadian all-rounder produced what remains widely regarded as one of the greatest batting innings in the history of international cricket: an unbeaten 365 runs against Pakistan, a world record for the highest individual test score that stood unbroken for 36 years. Later in his career, he made history again when he became the first player in first-class cricket to hit six consecutive sixes in a single over – a feat that still ranks among the most iconic moments in the sport’s long history.

    Far from being a one-sport athlete, Blackett noted, Sir Garfield’s talents extended far beyond cricket. He was an accomplished golfer who represented Barbados in international competition, and he also enjoyed a celebrated tenure playing for Nottinghamshire in England’s competitive County Championship.

    “His excellence was not confined to cricket alone,” Blackett said. “Today, we celebrate a life that changed the game forever and honour a man whose legacy will never fade.”

    Sir Garfield’s contributions to national and global sport have been recognized with some of the highest honours possible. In 1998, he was named a National Hero of Barbados, the country’s highest civic distinction. Today, his legacy lives on through the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy, the highest individual honor awarded by the International Cricket Council, which is presented annually to the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year.

    Closing his statement, Blackett extended FOD’s deepest sympathies to all those impacted by Sir Garfield’s passing. “The Friends of Democracy extend our deepest condolences to Sir Garry’s family, friends, former teammates, and to all Barbadians during this time of national mourning,” he said. “May The Right Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers rest in eternal peace.”

  • BAS warns of crisis as meat imports squeeze producers

    BAS warns of crisis as meat imports squeeze producers

    Barbados’ top agricultural industry advocacy group has renewed its lobbying push for government intervention to rein in meat imports, warning that an unprecedented surplus of locally produced pork and poultry has filled national cold storage facilities to capacity and pushed hundreds of domestic farmers to the brink of crippling financial hardship. \n\nJames Paul, chief executive of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS), told reporters that domestic meat producers are operating under unsustainable pressure, as overstocked cold storage leaves nowhere for farmers to house their finished products amid a supply-demand mismatch spurred by unregulated cheap foreign imports. To resolve the growing crisis, Paul is calling on the Barbadian government to launch a full review of existing trade regulations, close loopholes that allow under-taxed imported meat to enter the market, and implement temporary restrictions or a full suspension of competing foreign meat imports. This pause, he argues, would give the domestic market enough time to absorb the current surplus of local product before it leads to widespread farm failures.\n\nPaul emphasized that the large capital investments local farmers made over recent years to expand production capacity and boost operational efficiency are now at risk of being completely wiped out by the flood of cheap imported meat entering the country through unclosed regulatory gaps. The domestic pork sector, he said, has suffered the most severe damage from unfair foreign competition, with impacts rippling through major buyers and processing facilities across the entire island. \n\nMany imported pork products enter the country at reduced duty rates through regulatory loopholes, Paul explained, putting local producers at an impossible price disadvantage that locks them out of key market segments. HIPAC, one of the largest institutional purchasers of local pork in Barbados, has been forced to drastically cut the volume of local pork it buys due to intense underpriced competition from imported alternatives, he noted.\n\nThis drop in domestic purchasing comes at a time when local pig farmers deliberately expanded their herds and upgraded production facilities to meet projected domestic demand, leaving thousands of farmers stuck with unsellable excess stock and creating a fast-escalating crisis for the entire livestock industry, Paul said. The poultry sub-sector faces an equally urgent scenario, he added, with cold storage infrastructure stretched far beyond its designed limits. Both large commercial poultry operations and small independent producers are currently sitting on record high inventory levels, creating crippling operational bottlenecks that slow work at hatcheries and processing facilities across the country.\n\n“We do recognise that we have a glut of poultry on our hands. We have been talking constantly, and we know that the cold storage down there is full to the brim. Also, for some of the larger producers, the stocks are up, and then of course a lot of our smaller producers are coming on at the same time,” Paul said. He added that just one week prior, at least one major processing facility was unable to process and distribute all scheduled birds for market, offering clear proof of how severe the current backlog has become.\n\nPaul argued that Barbados’ domestic agriculture sector has reached a level of maturity where local producers can fully meet the island’s entire demand for fresh meat without relying on foreign suppliers. “We are reaching the stage where our local poultry industry should be able to satisfy 100 per cent of the demand for fresh poultry; we do not need to import anything. There is no reason for us to be going shopping abroad to whatever Caribbean destination people feel like going to or in the United States to find these products when we have them here. We need more than talk in the industry right now — we need action,” he said.\n\nFailure to act on the import imbalance, Paul warned, puts both private farmer investments and public government funding at serious risk. Many local producers took out loans through a $2 million government-backed investment program administered by the BAS to upgrade their farm facilities, and unregulated imports will make it impossible for many of these farmers to make their loan payments, he said. The BAS will continue supporting farmers through the application process with the Ministry of Agriculture to help boost farm resilience, Paul said, while continuing to push for urgent, decisive policy action to restrict imports and resolve the current glut.

  • St Philip folk push for safe spaces, restored heritage sites

    St Philip folk push for safe spaces, restored heritage sites

    Residents of St Philip parish in Barbados have secured formal commitments from Prime Minister Mia Mottley and local parliamentary representatives to advance long-delayed projects restoring and expanding the parish’s recreational and heritage spaces. The pledges came out of the latest community Ideas Forum, held Monday night at Princess Margaret Secondary School, where locals gathered to lay out pressing needs for shared public spaces that serve young athletes, aging residents, community organizers, and the island’s tourism sector.

    Many of the appeals centered on expanding access to safe recreational infrastructure, a need framed by residents as critical to supporting youth development and steering young people away from involvement in criminal activity. Long-time community advocate Jones, a committee member of the popular Long Bay 5K run, opened the call for increased public investment in recreational facilities to keep local youth productively engaged.

    Sherwin Greenidge, a Gemswick resident, expanded on this demand, putting forward a detailed proposal for a combined community recreation and wellness center on a vacant, previously used plot of land in his neighborhood. Greenidge noted that for more than 25 years, local residents have advocated for development on this site, pointing to unmet needs across multiple demographic groups. Talented young football and cricket players who currently hone their skills at the Dodds detention facility would gain a dedicated public space to practice, while older residents like himself would no longer need to compete with vehicle traffic to walk for exercise in the Gemswick area.

    Under Greenidge’s plan, the multi-use facility would include outdoor playing fields, a pavilion, a gym, and a dedicated walking and jogging track, supporting both elite youth athletic development and routine healthy activity for all residents. He added that the center could also double as an emergency resource hub during natural disasters, expanding its public value beyond recreation.

    Fellow Gemswick resident Jim Brown echoed Greenidge’s call, delivering an impassioned appeal for upgrades to the neighborhood’s existing playing field—an improvement he has lobbied consecutive governments to deliver for more than 30 years. Brown noted that the upgraded field could host cricket, netball, walking groups, and provide a safe gathering space for local youth.

    Responding to these requests, St Philip South Member of Parliament Indar Weir confirmed that preliminary talks over land acquisition for the proposed Gemswick recreation center began with former housing minister Dwight Sutherland, and that Prime Minister Mottley first committed to the project ahead of the 2018 general election. Progress was derailed by the global COVID-19 pandemic, but Weir reaffirmed the government’s commitment to delivering both the new center and the playing field upgrades.

    “I am strongly supporting Jim Brown and Sherwin to make sure we have the facility delivered to the people at Gemswick,” Weir said. “This also came up in the last election campaign, and I can also give you the assurance that I discussed it with the prime minister…The youngsters, when I canvassed the area, also reminded me that they needed to make sure they have that facility delivered to them.”

    Weir also addressed resident calls for dedicated safe walking spaces, revealing that negotiations are already underway with the private owner of Oldbury Woods to open the land for public use. He added that there are ongoing discussions to redevelop the wooded area, which is home to a large concentration of mahogany trees, into a national mahogany park that would include public vending opportunities for local entrepreneurs, leveraging its strategic location to drive community economic activity.

    Beyond recreational infrastructure, long-time local educator Betty-Lyn Estwick pushed for urgent restoration of the iconic Ragged Point Lighthouse, a key historical and tourist site that has fallen into disrepair. Estwick argued that the rusted, unmaintained site is not fit to welcome visiting tourists, and called for it to be redeveloped into a safe public recreational space with new landscaping and seating. She also highlighted the need for improved maintenance and restoration for other Barbados heritage sites including Mount Hillaby and the Morgan Lewis Windmill, and called for the reinstatement of the Parks and Beaches Commission, the former agency replaced by the National Conservation Commission that previously oversaw management of public recreational and heritage spaces.

    “How do we feel comfortable telling visitors, these are our places of interest, and then we don’t take care of them? If tourism is our business, let us take it seriously and let us really play our part,” Estwick said. “If you bring back parks and beaches and you give them good supervisors, let them see that you’re serious, they can have responsibility for looking after these places and keeping them looking the way they should look.”

    Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams backed Estwick’s call, noting that expanding and diversifying Barbados’ tourism and recreational offerings beyond the island’s most well-known sites is a key priority, and he would personally advocate for moving forward with the lighthouse restoration. St Philip North MP Dr. Sonia Browne also confirmed support for the project, adding that a formal proposal for a lighthouse museum centered on the site’s historical heritage has already been submitted to government for consideration.

    In closing out the forum, local resident Carl Padmore called for a new performance space at Princess Margaret Secondary School to be named in honor of pioneering Barbadian theatre figure Osbert McLean, and pushed for greater preservation of Six Roads’ unique historical heritage and its contributions to St Philip’s development.

    Addressing attendees after the public comment period, Prime Minister Mottley delivered a firm pledge that her government would deliver a permanent auditorium and amphitheater facility for St Philip during its current term, contingent on the island avoiding major natural disasters that would disrupt government budget priorities. “I give you a commitment that we will have a proper amphitheater auditorium-type facility for the people of St Philip that will happen in this term, God willing and God willing that there are no further natural disasters that will take us off track,” Mottley said.

  • Health officials mull colorectal cancer screening rollout – PM

    Health officials mull colorectal cancer screening rollout – PM

    During a public policy forum held Monday night at St Philip’s Princess Margaret Secondary School, Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that the island nation’s Ministry of Health is currently conducting feasibility assessments for a national colorectal cancer screening program, a long-missing public health initiative that local medical leaders have repeatedly called for. The discussion was sparked by Dr. Marek Stobinski, a recently relocated gastroenterologist who practices at Bayview Hospital and a local private clinic, who used the forum platform to push for urgent investment in early detection infrastructure for colorectal cancer.

    After moving to Barbados, Dr. Stobinski told attendees he conducted a search to identify existing preventive public health programs where he could contribute his expertise, only to find no national colorectal screening framework currently exists. “I started looking for prophylactic programmes, and I cannot find any in Barbados, so I’ll be the biggest advocate for a colorectal cancer screening programme in Barbados,” he stated.

    The gastroenterologist emphasized that colorectal cancer is no longer an illness confined to older populations, sharing a recent case of an otherwise healthy 40-year-old patient he diagnosed with the disease to illustrate the gap in preventive care. “I had my concerns that we need to do something before the cancer spread, and it will be too late for treatment,” he added.

    Public health data confirms that early detection drastically improves outcomes for colorectal cancer patients: precancerous growths called polyps can be removed quickly before they develop into malignant tumors. Dr. Stobinski noted that removing early-stage polyps takes as little as 15 minutes in most cases, a simple outpatient procedure that prevents cancer from developing and spreading to other parts of the body.

    Prime Minister Mottley echoed the physician’s call for urgent action, sharing a personal and cultural touchstone to underscore the need for widespread screening. She pointed to the 1999 death of beloved Barbadian and West Indies cricket legend Malcolm Marshall, who passed away from colorectal cancer at just 41 years old. “How old was Malcolm Marshall when he died? You think he would’ve died if he had the screening and they did the surgery?” she asked attendees.

    Mottley also shared that she undergoes routine colonoscopies herself, explaining that timely polyp removal cuts the risk of developing colorectal cancer dramatically. “If you find the polyps and remove them, you do what? Minimise. Doctors tell me don’t ever use the word extinguish, but you minimise the chance of cancer to almost zero,” she said.

    Dr. Sonia Browne, the Member of Parliament for St Philip North and a practicing general practitioner, added another key consideration to the discussion: while launching a screening program is critical, ensuring consistent follow-up care for patients identified as high-risk remains a major systemic challenge. “The headache seems to be the follow-up when you do have, you found the patient,” she noted. Even so, she stressed that investing in upfront screening and early intervention is far more cost-effective than covering treatment for late-stage, advanced cancer that could have been prevented.

    Alongside the announcement about colorectal screening, Mottley revealed that the Barbadian government is also evaluating the potential introduction of GLP-1 receptor agonists, the widely used class of anti-obesity medications that includes semaglutide, liraglutide, and tirzepatide. The government is currently weighing whether the long-term public health benefits of expanding access to these drugs outweigh their higher initial costs, the prime minister explained.

    Mottley argued that the government must avoid short-sighted cost-cutting that leads to higher health spending down the line, noting that obesity is linked to a range of serious, costly complications including amputations and kidney failure that require ongoing dialysis. “We’re not going to end up being penny wise and pound foolish, but we will be strategic in our deployment of resources to be able to help people help themselves and to save lives,” she said.

    The World Health Organization recently issued landmark clinical guidelines that conditionally recommend GLP-1 receptor agonists for long-term weight management in adults living with obesity. The global health body stresses that these medications must always be paired with lifestyle interventions including balanced diets and regular physical activity to deliver sustained benefits. Clinical trials confirm GLP-1 drugs help most patients lose 10 to 20 percent of their starting body weight by reducing appetite and persistent food cravings. However, the medications are associated with common mild to moderate gastrointestinal side effects, and most patients regain significant weight if they stop taking the drug.

    At the close of the forum, Mottley reaffirmed the government’s commitment to expanding preventive screening for three of the most common high-burden cancers: breast, prostate, and colorectal. “Because if you get in early, you do what? Give yourself a credible chance of recovery and full life again,” she said.

  • Parris powers Barbados to back-to-back U-19 titles

    Parris powers Barbados to back-to-back U-19 titles

    The CWI Rising Stars Under-19 Men’s 50-over Championship concluded on Wednesday with a historic display of all-round cricket that saw Barbados retain their title, led by a match-winning performance from Justin Parris that capped an undefeated run through the tournament. In the tournament-deciding final held at Liberta Sports Club, Parris turned in a once-in-a-generation double performance: a brilliant, pace-setting century with the bat followed by a devastating five-wicket haul with his off-spin, steering Barbados to a dominant 116-run victory over Jamaica.

    Barbados’ batting got off to a rocky start after Jamaica won the toss and put the defending champions in to bat. Jamaica seamer Jahdae Moore removed opening batter Gadson Bowens for just eight early on, but a 74-run second-wicket stand between Kelani Clarke (49 off 44 balls) and Jordan Graham (21) steadied the innings, moving Barbados to 95 for one by the 16th over. A quick flurry of wickets from Jamaican bowler Alixandre Elliot turned the tide back in Jamaica’s favor: Elliot removed Clarke, snared Graham for 21, and Demarco Scott bowled Seth Smith for three to drop Barbados to 101 for four midway through their innings.

    It was here that Parris stepped up to rescue his side. Partnering with Kemar Dixon, the all-rounder steered Barbados back into control with a 108-run fifth-wicket stand. After Elliot dismissed Dixon for 48 and Jahidi Hinds for one, Parris combined with R’Jai Gittens (37 off 19 balls) for an aggressive 80-run eighth-wicket partnership off just eight overs, pushing Barbados to 291 for seven after 48 overs. Parris brought up his century in the penultimate over of the innings, finishing with 100 runs off 98 balls, including 12 fours and one six, before being dismissed shortly after. Rajeev Parsooram closed out the innings with a quick 14 off five balls, leaving Barbados on a competitive total of 320 for nine after 50 overs. Elliot finished as Jamaica’s leading bowler with 4 for 40, while Moore took 3 for 58.

    Chasing 321 for the title, Jamaica never recovered from a disastrous start. Barbados pace bowler Asher Branford trapped opener Odane Binns lbw for seven, had Joel Williams caught for a duck and removed Demarco Scott also via lbw, leaving Jamaica reeling at 46 for three. After Tyson Gordon Jr was dismissed for 28 by Hinds, Demario Hall and captain Pajay Nelson put on a 58-run fifth-wicket stand to bring Jamaica back into the contest at 131 for four. But Parris, who had already won the game with his bat, closed out the contest with his spin: he removed Hall for 47 to break the partnership, and went on to take the wickets of Ryan Lyttleton, Geovanni Grey, Elliot and Moore to finish with five wickets for just 35 runs. Parsooram took the key wicket of Nelson for 36, leaving Jamaica all out for 204 in 43.5 overs. Branford finished with 3 for 19 to support Parris’ match-winning spell.

    The victory marked Barbados’ sixth consecutive win of the tournament, securing their second straight title and cementing their place as one of the most dominant teams in the recent history of the competition.

    In the third-place playoff at Bethesda Sports Ground, Trinidad and Tobago cruised to a comfortable seven-wicket win over the Leeward Islands to claim third place in the tournament. The Leeward Islands, who chose to bat first, produced their poorest batting performance of the entire tournament, bowled out for just 88 runs in 26.5 overs. Renaldo Fournillier led the collapse, taking three of the first four wickets to fall, and finished with 4 for 26, while Daron Dhanraj took 2 for 14. Only Tanez Francis (22), Eirette Richards (19) and Lyhte Brown (13) reached double figures for the Leewards, who lost their last six wickets for just 40 runs. In response, Trinidad and Tobago lost three early wickets for just 20 runs, but captain Brendan Boodoo remained unbeaten on 49 off 46 balls, combining with Tariq Richards for an unbroken 41-run fourth-wicket stand to see the side home at 89 for three in just 15.1 overs.

    At the fifth-place playoff held at Pigotts Sports Ground, Guyana earned revenge over the Windward Islands, beating them by 53 runs just days after losing to the side in the final round of group matches. Guyana’s batters struggled for the second match running, with only Dhanesh Persaud (53 off 73 balls) and Emmanuel Lewis (43) offering significant resistance. The pair put on a 92-run partnership after Guyana slumped to 72 for five in the 22nd over, but after Lewis was dismissed, Guyana lost their last five wickets for just 20 runs, all out for 184 in 49.2 overs. Theo Edwards was the Windward Islands’ leading bowler with 3 for 12.

    In their chase, the Windward Islands lost captain and opener Theodore Edward to the second ball of the innings, but Derwin Lewis and Earshino Fontaine put on 46 runs to keep the contest alive. After Lewis was trapped lbw by Adrian Hetmyer, wickets fell at regular intervals, leaving the Windwards at 76 for five. A 37-run stand between Tyler Venner (24) and Khavaughn Bartholomew (27) briefly revived their hopes, but Gilbert Griffith dismissed both to end the comeback. Griffith finished with 4 for 19, while Romario Ramdehol took 2 for 13 and Hetmyer took 2 for 38, bowling the Windward Islands out for 131 to secure a 53-run win for Guyana.

  • Minister begins weekly school inspections ahead of September reopening

    Minister begins weekly school inspections ahead of September reopening

    As the September start of the new academic year approaches, Barbados’ Ministry of Education Transformation has intensified on-the-ground oversight of ongoing school renovation and new construction projects across the island, with Education Minister Chad Blackman launching a schedule of weekly site inspections to track progress at dozens of campuses.

    These inspections form part of the broader government education transformation agenda, backed by a nearly $290 million budget allocation for the 2026-27 financial year that targets infrastructure upgrades for 35 public schools across Barbados.

    On Wednesday, Minister Blackman led a cross-departmental inspection team, including senior leaders from the ministry’s Technical Management Unit and education sector officials, through five education facilities located within a two-mile radius. The tour included the newly developed Barbados Climate School at Chelston Park, Grantley Prescod Memorial Primary, St Giles Nursery, Wilkie Cumberbatch School, and Maria Holder Nursery at Government Hill. The team assessed construction progress and checked preparedness for the arrival of students and teaching staff next month.

    Blackman explained that 35 schools are currently undergoing major refurbishment work during the summer break, with 13 campuses closing immediately after final exams this year to extend the construction window and minimize disruptions once the new term begins. The inclusion of two nursery schools on the inspection itinerary ties to a key policy milestone launching in September: the rollout of universal access to early childhood education across Barbados. Blackman noted that an early childhood education specialist joined the tour to evaluate preparations at the early learning facilities.

    The minister confirmed that regular site inspections will continue over the coming weeks as work advances at projects across the island, adding that residents can expect to see sustained construction activity as the government works to deliver a fully modernized national education infrastructure.

    “Work is continuing in earnest, and as Barbadians traverse across the country, you will continue to see significant work ongoing as we build out modern infrastructure,” Blackman said during the tour.

    Reaffirming the ministry’s long-term commitment to infrastructure upkeep, Blackman announced that school facility upgrades will no longer be limited to the traditional summer construction window. Going forward, upgrade and maintenance work will be scheduled year-round, taking advantage of weekends, mid-term breaks, and other school holidays to complete necessary improvements without disrupting classes.

    Blackman closed by extending gratitude to teachers, students, and families across Barbados for their patience and ongoing support as the ministry delivers on this large-scale infrastructure improvement program.

  • State funeral organisers prepare for mass tribute to Sir Garry

    State funeral organisers prepare for mass tribute to Sir Garry

    Barbados is making final preparations to bid a formal, national farewell to one of its most beloved icons: cricket legend and National Hero The Right Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers, whose state funeral is scheduled for next Wednesday. With widespread public enthusiasm already demonstrating deep respect for Sir Garry’s decades-long legacy, organizing officials have confirmed that planning is advancing on schedule to deliver a ceremony worthy of his contributions to the nation and global cricket.

    Senator Lisa Cummins, who chairs the official funeral organizing committee, shared updates on logistics after completing the committee’s first walkthrough of Kensington Oval, the iconic Bridgetown cricket ground that will host the funeral mass. Joining Cummins during the site visit was Chief of Staff Brigadier The Honourable Carlos Lovell, with media on hand to document the inspection. The committee has already completed a preliminary review of Coral Ridge Memorial Gardens, the final resting place where Sir Garry will be interred following the funeral service.

    Cummins emphasized that public interest in attending the tribute has been far stronger than anticipated, with an outpouring of enthusiasm from ordinary Barbadians eager to honor the life and career of the national hero. “There’s a large outpouring of interest from Barbadians who want to be able to come out and celebrate the life of Sir Garry Sobers, and we’re really excited by the outpouring that we have seen,” she told reporters.

    To accommodate the projected large crowds, organizers have put in place a free ticketing system to help estimate attendance and manage venue capacity. Complimentary tickets are available for pickup at multiple convenient locations across the island, including all post offices, Government Headquarters, and the reception area of the National Insurance Building. Tickets will also be distributed at sites where Sir Garry will lie in state and where public condolence books will be placed.

    Importantly, Cummins clarified that the ticketing system is purely for planning purposes, not to restrict access. “There is no cost for admission tickets into Kensington Oval. Barbadians are freely invited to just take a ticket and come on down,” she said, adding that “the absence of a ticket does not preclude you from being able to enter Kensington Oval on the day of the funeral ceremony.”

    In addition to the main funeral service, a network of condolence book locations is being set up across Barbados to give all residents the chance to leave written tributes for Sir Garry. Full details of these condolence sites, along with confirmed venues for the public lying-in-state, were scheduled to be released to the public later the same day of Cummins’ announcement. Organizers have urged residents to only follow official government communication channels for all updates, noting that further information on lying-in-state times, pre-funeral tribute events, and other logistical arrangements will be rolled out steadily over the coming days.

    The commemoration of Sir Garry’s life is not limited to Barbados. Cummins announced that Barbados’ diplomatic missions across the globe will host their own tribute events, giving members of the large Barbadian diaspora and cricket fans around the world an opportunity to participate in honoring the legend. For those unable to attend in-person events, a live stream of the main Kensington Oval funeral ceremony will be made available, with links to the stream posted on official platforms in the lead-up to the service.

    Historians and long-time Barbadian residents are already drawing parallels between this national farewell and the 1967 state funeral of Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Garry’s mentor and predecessor as captain of the West Indies cricket team. Worrell’s 1967 passing at the age of 42 marked the first state funeral held for a citizen of an independent Barbados. Following a service at St Michael’s Cathedral, Worrell was interred on a bluff at the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill campus, a historic parallel that adds additional context to the unprecedented national mourning taking place this month.

  • Stronger literacy push after exam decline

    Stronger literacy push after exam decline

    When this year’s Common Entrance exam results revealed a worrying steep drop in national English test scores, education policymakers moved quickly to address growing fears that thousands of incoming secondary school students were not prepared for the academic demands of high school. The result is a targeted, intensive summer literacy intervention that is already reporting measurable early gains for the learners who need it most.

    As part of the country’s National Literacy Programme, the Ministry of Education Transformation launched the Summer Learning Pod initiative, with a pilot site hosted at Westbury Primary School. Currently, 70 students between the ages of 11 and 13, all of whom showed critical gaps in reading and writing proficiency in this year’s exams, are receiving specialized daily support designed to close literacy gaps before they begin secondary school. The 3-week programme, set to conclude this Friday, relies on two evidence-based instructional frameworks developed by Lindamood-Bell: Seeing Stars and the Visualizing and Verbalizing approach, delivered through small-group instruction tailored to each student’s skill level.

    Each structured method targets a core component of literacy proficiency. The Seeing Stars framework helps learners build word recognition and spelling skills by training them to create clear mental images of letter sequences within words, a technique that strengthens automatic decoding. The Visualizing and Verbalizing approach, by contrast, boosts reading and listening comprehension by teaching students to form mental imagery of the content they read, then rephrase that content in their own words to deepen understanding. With a strict 1:5 instructor-to-student ratio, every learner receives personalized attention that is often hard to access in crowded standard classroom settings.

    The intervention was launched in direct response to newly released national data showing that the average English score dropped from 72.5 in 2025 to 64.2 in 2026. Education officials flagged widespread weaknesses in core skills including grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and analysis of expository nonfiction texts, gaps that experts warn could create persistent barriers to success as students move to the more rigorous curriculum of secondary school. To remove common barriers to access, the programme also provides all participating students with free daily transportation and school lunches, ensuring that low-income learners are not excluded from the support they need.

    Project consultant Isabel Medellin says early progress assessments already show clear, transformative improvements for many participants, pointing to the rapid growth of one 11-year-old student named Jayden as a striking example. When Jayden first joined the programme, initial baseline testing placed his reading proficiency at roughly a first-grade level, with extremely weak foundational skills that left him struggling to decode even short, simple words. “When we first began his instruction, he was working on words with single syllables, two or three sounds. So words like ‘cat’ or ‘boat,’” Medellin explained.

    After less than three weeks of daily targeted instruction, observed in part by peripatetic teacher support officer Lee Carter, Jayden’s skills and confidence have both surged dramatically. “So now he’s working on two-syllable words. He is reading passages with more complex single-syllable and two-syllable words. He’s increasing his sight word recognition, and his confidence has increased so much,” Medellin said. She added that the shift in Jayden’s classroom engagement has been as notable as his academic progress: “He is always raising his hand to answer the questions, and it’s been really great to see that within just barely three weeks, he has gone from struggling to decode words with two or three letters to now he can take on two-syllable words and decode them back to back.”

    All participants complete a baseline assessment at the start of the programme and a follow-up assessment at the end to measure growth, allowing educators to document exactly how much progress each student makes over the three-week intervention. Education officials say the early results from the pilot will inform future expansion of targeted summer literacy support to address ongoing declines in secondary school readiness.

  • Rebate push to help poultry farmers tackle rising heat stress

    Rebate push to help poultry farmers tackle rising heat stress

    A deadly recent heatwave in Jamaica that killed hundreds of laying hens has sent a stark warning across the Caribbean, prompting agricultural authorities to urge poultry producers to implement urgent heat mitigation measures before the peak mid-year summer heat arrives. The event has laid bare the growing vulnerability of regional poultry production to rising global temperatures, bringing new urgency to preparedness efforts across neighboring island nations.

    Mark Campbell, president of the Jamaica Egg Farmers Association (JEFA), confirmed that the island’s egg sector, particularly operations along Jamaica’s southern coast, has already sustained devastating losses. Some small-scale and commercial farmers have lost as many as 700 birds to the extreme sweltering conditions recorded in the recent heat event.

    In response to the Jamaican outbreak of heat-related poultry mortality, James Paul, chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS), has issued a direct public warning to Barbados’ livestock producers. Paul emphasized that proactive, pre-emptive farm management is non-negotiable to prevent heat stress from wiping out poultry yields as seasonal temperatures climb toward their annual peak. Speaking to local outlet Barbados TODAY, Paul noted that while the full details of Jamaica’s losses are still being assessed, the event is clearly linked to extreme heat conditions, and changing climatic conditions mean Caribbean producers can no longer ignore the growing risk of temperature-related production shocks. “I don’t rejoice on what’s happened in Jamaica,” Paul stated. “I think that it is probably related to the heat conditions there. Environment changes and temperature changes have an impact. While I am not fully aware as to what the issues are, that’s something we have to follow up. But again, I just want to sound the warning to our local producers.”

    As of the warning, Barbados has not yet recorded extreme temperature spikes this season, but Paul cautioned that the most high-risk period for heat stress is just around the corner. Poultry physiology makes the species particularly vulnerable to high ambient temperatures: unmanaged heat exposure triggers heat stress, which reduces birds’ feed conversion efficiency, slows growth rates, and leads to widespread mortality if producers do not intervene quickly. Historical data from the region confirms this pattern, and Paul says there is no reason to expect this summer to be an exception. “We have not really seen high temperatures as yet, but as we get closer and closer into the summer months, there will be high temperatures,” Paul explained. “The whole question of heat stress is something that has had a negative impact on birds in the past, and we don’t anticipate anything different going into the summer.”

    To reduce barriers for farmers looking to protect their flocks, the BAS is actively promoting a government-backed rebate program specifically designed to cut internal temperatures inside poultry coops. Under the initiative, individual producers can claim rebates of up to 15,000 Barbados dollars to purchase specialized heat-reflective roof paint, a low-cost intervention that drastically reduces the amount of heat absorbed into coop structures, keeping internal temperatures significantly cooler during heatwaves. Paul stressed that the program is especially critical for small-scale producers, who often lack the capital to invest in more expensive cooling infrastructure. The BAS is standing by to assist producers with every step of the application process, directing interested farmers to relevant officials at the Ministry of Agriculture to access the rebate.

    Paul urged producers to adopt a proactive “boy scout” mindset, preparing their facilities well before heat stress sets in. He noted that once losses occur, post-event complaints are futile when clear early warnings have already been issued to the sector.

    Andrew Lewis, general manager of Barbados’ major chick supplier Gale’s Agro Products Limited, corroborated the warning, confirming that while his firm’s primary hatchery has not recorded abnormal heat-related mortality so far this year, high mid-year temperatures are a persistent, recurring hazard for poultry producers across the island. “We are not experiencing anything like what you would have described in Jamaica at present,” Lewis said. “But certainly in the last few years, in the hotter summer months, the incidences of mortality and lower growth among our customers is a feature.”

    As a leading hatchery that supplies day-old chicks to farmers across the country, Gale’s Agro Products has already implemented extensive in-transit cooling precautions to ensure flock survival before delivery. However, Lewis emphasized that long-term flock resilience ultimately rests on individual farm management practices once chicks arrive at their destination. “We are primarily a hatchery, so we are sending out day-old chicks to farmers. Obviously, we send them out in as best ventilated or cool conditions as we can. However, once they arrive at the farmer, of course, then it really lies with the farmer,” he explained.

    Lewis added that the most challenging heat conditions typically arrive later in the seasonal cycle, with late August, September, and October historically bringing the most dangerous heat pressure for Caribbean poultry flocks. In line with official guidance, he is urging all poultry managers to inspect and test ventilation systems in advance, activate cooling measures ahead of temperature spikes, and ensure all heat mitigation infrastructure is secured to help flocks withstand the coming heat.