Secondary schools in Barbados will soon be offering specialised education.

Minister of Education and Human Resource Development Ronald Jones told the Daily Nation Wednesday that there would be some level of specialisation at the sixth-form level.

Jones said that with more options available, the ministry was going to try to eliminate some of the duplication.

"A part of it will be developing the strengths of the school. It makes no sense, really, for everybody to be doing the same things over and over.

"One could well understand that there is a tradition already established at some of the existing schools, but I've asked the principals to examine their areas of strength," he said after delivering the feature address at Harrison College's speech day.

Post-secondary education

He added that the principals would be brought together at the ministry to discuss those areas and how best to facilitate those schools.

"I'm not necessarily bent on the issue of the schools. I'm bent on the places where post-secondary education can be provided," he stressed.

Jones said he had taken note of the suggestion made by Robert 'Bobby' Morris for Christ Church Foundation school to become a post-secondary centre of excellence, rather than another sixth-form school.

Morris said a Christ Church centre could focus on science and technology, with particular reference to marine and nautical science technology.

Noting that there was already a marine programme at the Samuel Jackman Polytechnic, Jones agreed that there was a need for such training.

Streamlining schools

The idea for streamlining schools was mooted by principal of The St Michael School, Shelton Perkins in September at St Leonard's Anglican Church.

He was at the time making a case for a sixth form at his Martindales Road, St Michael School.

"Each school should not have to do every subject, but you focus on areas. There would be a lot of cross-migration of students, which is not a problem.

"But rather than every school doing French and Spanish - I have two and you have four - streamline it, so that schools would focus on certain areas. That, to me, would help a lot," he suggested then.

During an address at the school's speech day last Friday, Minister Jones announced that the school would indeed have a sixth form intake in September 2009. Foundation will be getting its first intake next year as well.

This will bring the number of sixth form schools to five, and Jones said another one was on the cards for the north of the island.