He made the charge Wednesday during his contribution on the second reading of a Bill providing for the regulation and management of day care centres and preschools.
Mr Bannister said he saw the Carmichael M.P. the other day attempting to make headlines by asking for a new high school in the southwest.
“This guy still doesn’t get it. His government is in charge now. He’s a parliamentary secretary. Put a new school in the budget like the FNM did. The FNM built two schools in the Carmichael area, and four in the southwest. Start working to get a new school instead of just grabbing headlines,” he said.
Preschool unit needed
He added that the Carmichael Primary School, located in the area represented by Mr Carey, needs a preschool unit badly.
He then begged the government parliamentarian to take the time to do something for the otherwise “excellent” primary school. “Minister, please do something for these children in the Carmichael community!” he said.
The children deserve more
The senator explained that the children of The Bahamas deserve more and the government could have made the Bill better for them.
FNM built schools
The Bill was a part of the previous administration’s social agenda consistent with the United Nations declaration of education for all. Mr Bannister said because children are a top priority many schools were built under the Free National Movement and 22 new preschool units were established – attached to primary schools.
“That’s why every new primary school which was built had it’s own preschool unit. That’s why the FNM can boast of creating 12,100 new classroom spaces in government-operated schools, effectively reducing the average classroom size to 25 for grades one to three,” he said.
He referred to the Gerald Cash Primary School, also built by the FNM government, as having one of the best pre-school facilities anywhere. Under the leadership of principal Lorraine Lightbourne, he said the unit is ably serving the growing Carmichael community.
The opposition senator admitted however, that more space is needed at the school, as there are more children to serve. He explained that the school needs another unit because the present one, which was built for 20 children, is accommodating 25.
“I’m asking our part-time Minister of Education/Attorney General to carefully consider the needs of our communities and to act quickly to seek to add a new preschool unit to the Gerald Cash Primary School,” he said.
Importance of the Bill
He underscored the importance of the Bill, saying it would open opportunities for Bahamian youngsters and care givers. He added that churches and civic groups had also been encouraged to establish day care centres and preschools.
Strangely, he said, the government brought the Bill created by the FNM, to the senate 22 months after the election without any fundamental change made to it.
“I’m not surprised that they’re taking credit for an FNM Bill, even though they did nothing to improve on what they met in place,” he said.
“I’m not surprised that this government of special interests, brought amendments to the Lotteries & Gaming Act into law before they brought legislation to protect children before parliament,” he added.
He then blasted the minister of education,” saying he should have reviewed the Bill more carefully before bringing it to parliament. He also noted that the legislation is based on good ideals but has provisions, which could and should have been improved.
The sections of the Bill, which he said could have been fine-tuned by the government before passage are:
Section four (c), where the Council has the power to appoint inspectors, who must be people who are not engaged in the management of a day care centres or pre-schools.
He said the difficulty is that throughout the Bill the term “operator” is vaguely used, when it would be better if this section also provided that neither operators nor employees of day care centres or preschools could be inspectors. He indicated that as it stands now there is no prohibition on operators or employees being appointed to the detriment of people who they may see as competitors.
Section four (g), where the Council is given the power to establish standards of qualifications for, and to regulate the professional conduct of, operators of day care centres and preschools, but not of employees.
He said employees should specifically be included in this section, as the move would serve as an important aspect of the educational development of Bahamian children. He pointed out that the positions should be reserved for Bahamians and there should be no leeway given to non-Bahamians, permitting them to come into The Bahamas and open a preschool or day care centre once they have a work permit.
Senator Bannister then charged that it seems that all of the Progressive Liberal Party’s talk about “putting Bahamians first” was only a catchy phrase used to win the election since there were no changes made to the Bill on the question of Bahamianisation.
Mindell Small, The Nassau Guardian
