Caribbean schools draw pupils from BritainMarch 25, 2006
LONDON: Hundreds of West Indian families in Britain are sending their children back to the Caribbean to get what many have found to be a better state education.
The children sometimes stay with relatives, and do not see their parents for months, in order to receive what is regarded as a more disciplined, traditional and structured schooling.
Parents who were born or have settled in Britain say the sacrifice is worth it, because British schools have become ill-disciplined and there is peer pressure on teenagers to do poorly in examinations.
Some parents are accompanying their children back to islands such as Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago.
The move represents a reverse in the trend of the past 50 years, which has seen thousands of West Indian families going to Britain in search of a better life, higher-paid jobs and a better education for their children.
Joy Seaton-Graham, who was born in Jamaica but moved to Britain aged 10, visited Barbados for a holiday in 2002. She fell in love with the island, heard that its schools had an excellent reputation, and decided that her two sons would benefit from an education there.
Mrs Seaton-Graham moved to the island when she was a single mother in June 2004. She now runs a guesthouse with her husband, Christopher.
Mrs Seaton-Graham, 45, said: "The state system in Barbados is very good. The expectations of pupils are so much higher and they seem more inspired to do well because the teachers are more on the side of the children."
Barbados puts from 18 to 20 per cent of government spending into education, against 13 per cent in Britain.
Telegraph, London
Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald.
