When the inaugural "CBE Innovations in Education Competition" is all said and done, Catholic Board of Education (CBE) director Claudette Rolle said the board expects to see "fantastic" ideas emerge from the inaugural competition for the development of education in The Bahamas.

Encouraging and supporting CBE teachers to develop learning resources or strategies in technology to advance student engagement is the goal of the competition, which challenges teachers to use their summer break to develop innovative projects that are culturally relevant and tailored to current curricula.

“We hope from this launch to be able to inspire our teachers to come up with very innovative projects that we can use, not only throughout the Catholic system, but throughout education, to further develop our students and so that it can transform our nation.”

The final day of entries for the competition is July 9; submission of innovations deadline is September; presentation of innovations to judges takes place October and the winners are selected between October and November.

In less than a week after the launch, CBE officials said 10 percent of teachers, aides and/or administrators had signed up to display their creativity and innovation.

“We know that at the end of it we are going to see some fantastic things come out of it for the development of education in The Bahamas,” said Rolle.

“CBE Innovations in Education Competitions”, which is open to all CBE primary and high school teachers, was launched on Wednesday, June 16.

As the 2020/2021 academic school year closes, CBE officials said the challenges and uncertainties that the COVID-19 pandemic presents for educational systems around the world continues to loom.

In March 2020, schools throughout The Bahamas closed and shifted to online and remote learning. This forced many educational institutions to quickly adjust and address barriers such as teacher preparedness, access to online resources and devices, and student support at home.

“The teachers have worked hard all year,” said Rolle. “Technology has been a part of what they do. They have imbued our school system with technology – and a lot of them have actually used their own resources to come up with very innovative ways to be able to deliver education, and so we are grateful to our teachers and all of our partners to help us to get this launch going. We know that at the end of it, we are going to see some fantastic things come out of it for the development of education in The Bahamas.”

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