A recent caller to a popular radio programme lamented the falling standards in Barbados and that the country was “going to hell in a handbasket”. This seems to be a recurring concern of citizens who are wary of a slide to unhelpful individualism, decadence and decline.
There is a growing subtext of dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the country’s development.
The island is being celebrated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for hitting several economic targets. The Washington-based multilateral financial institution has been a critical partner since 2018 when it approved the much-vaunted Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme.
According to the IMF’s metrics, the island is the institution’s poster child of the new, people-friendly institution, once accused of terrorising small countries into monetary devaluations and debt traps.
Today, it forecasts Barbados’ external position as strong, and international reserves had reached $1.6 billion at the end of September 2024. In addition, it praised the Government of Barbados for its commitment to reducing public debt to 60 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035/36.
Critical to meeting those IMF targets and low-interest borrowings, will be significant “structural reforms” which will require a dismantling of state-funded institutions that are a drag on public finances, while others will be required to substantially finance their existence through the increased fees or the introduction of fees.
To be fair to the administration, some government-owned operations need to clean up their act and provide a vastly improved quality of service to the public.
In fact, one could confidently argue that were Barbadians receiving high quality, more efficient service from hospitals, polyclinics, and a host of government offices, as well as better quality roads and public services, there would be fewer irate citizens.
The problem for many disgruntled Barbadians is that their incomes are just not keeping up with the cost of living.
There are, however, other social factors impacting the comfort level of citizens. It has more to do with the quality of life and the things that money cannot buy.
Increasing crime and disrespect for rules and authority have become common complaints. The qualities that unified Barbadians are fraying at a rate that is discomforting for too many people, and they are deeply concerned.
Despite the rapid technological, social and economic shifts taking place around them, Barbadians remain largely conservative.
Though accepting that change is inevitable, the rapidity of the movements is uncomfortable for many. Some Barbadians are yet to get over the liberal approach the Ministry of Education has taken to hairstyles in school.
Boys are allowed to wear their hair in styles that appear more like they are heading for the block rather than to school. The hairstyles being worn by some children in primary and nursery schools make it difficult to easily recognise whether they are boys or girls.
School girls, too, are devoting an inordinate amount of time to their braids and hairstyles which are proving to be more of a distraction.
Then there is the pervasive drug culture in which the smoking of marijuana has become so normalised across the island that one might think it is probably smoked more than tobacco cigarettes.
In Jamaica, a similar debate is emerging over hairstyles, and school authorities struggle to maintain order and discipline in schools.
As reported by the Jamaica Observer, the leadership of the 25 000-strong Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) has thrown its backing behind the “school is not a fashion runway” response by Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon on the vexatious subject of student hair grooming styles.
Attaining balance is the contention, as the Education Ministry manages “students’ desire to express themselves in different ways, through hair and dress” and prevents schools from being turned into “runways”.
“We want to protect the constitutional rights of all our people and our children, but we also have to be mindful that a part of this highly contentious issue has been the idea that, at the end of the day, we have to prepare children to go into the workplace that themselves have rules and regulations governing grooming,” JTA president Dr Mark Smith observed.
Across the region, countries are battling similar social and cultural issues that all have the potential to derail strides made in creating cohesive, sustainable societies.
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