(Barbados Nation) A call has been made for all CARICOM immigrants in Barbados to get their status regularised in light of there being over 2 000 non-nationals in the island’s school system, 227 of whom sat last month’s Barbados Secondary Schools’ Entrance (11-Plus) Exam.

Minister of Education Ronald Jones said on Friday these students were in the system because they had been “granted some kind of status”, and therefore adult non-nationals should follow suit.

“We have over 2 000 persons in the school system and they don’t have to run and hide because they have the appropriate status,” he said during a Press conference at the ministry’s Elsie Payne Complex to announce the exam results.

“Obviously their parents are within the process allowed within the system . . . . Come forward without penalty and be regularised so that you can enjoy the social benefits of Barbados,” he urged.

Jones added it was a positive aspect of Barbados that teachers “don’t see status, but see students, and work with all”, noting that many people didn’t seem to understand the strategy or philosophy behind a Barbadian system that wanted CARICOM nationals to have proper status.