by Annalee Davis
Concern has been expressed about the excessive numbers of CARICOM nationals taking up too many places in Barbadian schools. From 2006 – 2007, 2.3% of students in primary and secondary schools were CARICOM nationals, ie. out of 40,276 students, 930 are CARICOM nationals. From July to December 2007, 1,214 students received student visas (including tertiary) and 181 students renewed their visas.
Statistics also show that while some schools are under capacity, others are over capacity. We have 663 students more than we can carry in primary and secondary schools. Although one might think that the presence of CARICOM students is reason for the excess, recall that in 2006, approximately 750 students were transferred from closing of the Louis Lynch school and accommodated into all other secondary schools.
Educational institutions around the world pride themselves on diversity in the student population, thinking that exposure to students from different countries enriches the educational experience. In Barbados, we want to maintain a national student body.
UWI has observed that as a regional institution it’s losing its regional nature and encourages students to spend at least one semester on a sister campus.
While showing my documentary to graduate students at UWI, a student said, “word on the ground is that most crimes are committed by Guyanese.” Not one of his colleagues challenged the statement. Statistics from the Crime Intelligence Unit of the Royal Barbados Police Force reveal that between 2003 – 2007, a total of 22,252 crimes were committed in Barbados, with 1,454 committed by non-nationals; 6.5% of crimes were committed by non-nationals from forty-six countries.
Kai-Ann Skeete, a UWI PhD student, delivered a conference paper in Jamaica recently and quoted Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM as saying “We have accepted enough people in Barbados as it stands. We are at the maximum.” But, the maximum has not been qualified numerically. How does Mr. Kellman determine this number? Ms. Skeete showed that out of all landed CARICOM nationals in Barbados for the period July 1 2007 to September 31 2007, 1.08% applied for short term work permits and 69 applied as CARICOM skilled nationals.
Ms. Skeete wrote “if Barbados’ Ambassador persists with his actions, the country with the Lead Responsibility for the implementation of the CSME (Barbados) will continue to disrupt the implementation of the CSME regionally.” She suggested that “the region unite to solve the issues that are currently plaguing the implementation of the CSME and thus the advanced development of our region.”
Officially, back in the late 1970’s, Caribbean nationals were granted amnesty if they had been living in Barbados prior to 1975. The amnesty continued officially until 1992. In 1979, the Immigration Act was amended, endowing the Minister responsible for Immigration the right to allow persons to remain in Barbados and to live and work for three years.
Prime Minister Thompson recently extended the amnesty from 1992 to1998. But this is somewhat passé because even though the amnesty was not officially extended since 1992, the immigration department continued to honour it until the new administration took office.
Given that Barbados has one of the lowest growth rates in the region, an average of less than 1% per annum between 1975 and 2007, and given that the estimate for population growth will be 0.1% by 2025, and given that the aging population is increasing and we need to have increased contributions to the NIS schemes, how many migrants can Barbados support?
