Black Immigrant Daily News

The principal of the Barbados Community College has reported a drop in academic performance and rise in mental health issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Annette Alleyne was speaking at the Convocation Ceremony for first-year students on Friday, when she revealed that the college saw an increase in mental health concerns during the 2020/21 academic year.

“During the COVID period, when we had to go online for majority of the classes, there were increased reports through the Counselling and Placement Centre about students who were having challenges with their mental health,” Alleyne said.

“When students did their portfolio for the visual arts, a number of the students’ pieces showed the struggles they had with anxiety, loneliness and depression,” she continued.

With mental health reports increasing over the past two years, the BCC principal insisted that a return to face-to-face classes was necessary.

“We knew that it was a concern for the students during the online period which is why we had such a great push for students to come back face to face,” she maintained.

Alleyne shared that academic performance was also affected, with several students expressing that they were unable to focus in the home environment. She reported that the college saw a decline in grades. While students in programmes such as graphic design and computer studies strived in the online environment, “in some other programmes which were highly theoretical, students didn’t do very well,” said the principal.

Alleyne also indicated that there was an “unusual” large number of students requesting to defer their studies for a year or another semester.

“The number of students that we had requesting extended studies had more or less doubled from what it previously.

“A large number of students were asking for extended studies, [for] another year [or] another semester because some of them chose to defer various programmes,” she revealed.

The BCC principal explained that the transition from an face-to-face learning environment to virtual, was “challenging”.

To further assist struggling students, the college enhanced its summer school to facilitate those impacted.

“When the government allowed the students to come back in 2020, we had a summer school session. We did it in 2021 and again in 2022. This was to assist students who had challenges with the virtual environment, who didn’t have devices and students who didn’t have access to the internet,” she explained.

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BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — More than half of the Spain women’s team no longer want to play in protest at their coach, though they don’t want him removed.

Fifteen players have told the Spanish federation that being on the team has “significantly” affected their “emotional state” and health.

The players, however, insisted on Friday they have not asked for coach Jorge Vilda to be axed, but instead want from him and the federation “a clear commitment to a professional project with attention paid to all the aspects needed to get the best performance of this group of players.”

“We understand that it is not our job in any case to choose a coach, but it is our job to express in a constructive and honest way what we consider can improve the performance of the group,” the players said in a statement on their social media accounts.

Spain coach Jorge Vilda. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File).

The federation has interpreted the players’ move as an attempt to “pressure” its leadership into firing Vilda, who the players have publicly questioned in recent weeks.

In a statement issued late Thursday, the federation said it “won’t permit its players to question the continuance of the national team coach” and that it wouldn’t “tolerate any type of pressure by any player.”

The rift between players and federation exploded on Thursday when the 15 players sent identical emails to the federation asking not to be called up again because of the emotional pain it meant to play for the team. The email sent by the players was published by local media on Friday. The federation confirmed to The Associated Press that the email was genuine, and the names of the 15 players.

The email said “the general situation on the Spanish national team generated by recent events, events which (the federation) is aware of, is greatly affecting my emotional state and therefore my health.”

“Due to this, I presently do not consider myself to be a available for our national team and therefore ask to not be called up until this situation changes.”

The email adds the player’s “full commitment to the team in the past, present and future.”

The list of 15 players that sent emails included the team’s third captain, Patri Guijarro, goalkeeper Sandra Pa?os and attacking midfielder Aitana Bonmat?.

Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas did not send the email. But she did join the players in revolt in posting the public statement that reiterated their position on Friday.

This month, Guijarro appeared at a news conference alongside the team’s first captain, Irene Paredes, and striker Jennifer Hermoso to explain their troubles with Vilda. Neither Paredes nor Hermoso are among the 15 who sent emails.

At that news conference, Paredes said the players were not happy with the results of the team that made it to the quarterfinals of the European Championship in July before losing to eventual champion England 2-1.

“It is a complicated moment,” Paredes said. “We are an ambitious team and we want to get better and win. We believe that various internal aspects (of the team) must improve.”

Guijarro then said “there is a generalized discontent among the team for what we went through at the end of the Eurocup. We thought that we had a group that could win titles. We think that and feel that way. After the Eurocup, the group sent that message to our coach.”

Vilda also spoke about the fracture among the team during the European Championship in England.

“The atmosphere on the team has always been good,” Vilda said. “In the first 15 days of the Europcup (camp) the atmosphere was positive. Then the games started and something changed. We were in a soccer paradise, and I hope that we can get back there in the future. We have a team of good players, and we are just one step away from being a great team.”

At that news conference, none of the players mentioned their emotional health. That has led to speculation in Spanish media that there may be something more behind the decision than just disappointing results.

Ana ?lvarez, the head of women’s soccer at the Spanish soccer federation, defended the professionalism of Vilda.

While saying she does not question the claims of emotional distress of the players, ?lvarez said there had been no reports of verbal or sexist abuse similar to the ones that have been leveled by former players against Vilda’s predecessor, Ignacio Quereda, whom Vilda replaced in 2015.

Quereda resigned after his players publicly demanded the federation get rid of him because of what they called his poor preparation for the 2015 Women’s World Cup. Former players later accused him of using sexist and homophobic language to abuse them psychologically during his nearly three decades in charge.

“Nothing like that has ever occurred (under Vilda),” ?lvarez told Cadena SER radio late Thursday. “All of us are professionals and there has never been anything to taint that. Nothing of what you could be thinking has happened. That would be very serious.”

The Spanish federation has said the players will not be allowed to return until they “ask for forgiveness.”

Spain is scheduled to host friendlies against Sweden on Oct. 7 and the United States on Oct. 11. Vilda is expected to announced his squad for those games next week.

The Women’s World Cup is just around the corner, next July in Australia and New Zealand.

?lvarez said the federation will call up younger and less experienced players to complete its squad if needed.

“The federation comes first,” she said.

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A Jamaican man who reportedly conspired with another man to traffic a 16-year-old girl for commercial sexual activities in the United States, was on Thursday sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison, according to the US Department of Justice.

He is 24-year-old Joel Lindsay, otherwise called ‘Joey Guapo’, whose most recent address was East Hartford, Connecticut. He was sentenced to a total of 11 years and three months behind bars by District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford.

Lindsay was convicted for his role in a plot to traffic a 16-year-old girl in October 2019, according to federal officials. He faces deportation to Jamaica on completion of his sentence.

Officials said Lindsay, Joseph Pina and another person picked up the victim on October 17, 2019 to transport her to an East Windsor hotel. They said Lindsay and Pina then took explicit photographs of the child to advertise her sexual services on a website.

Prostitution appointments scheduled by the two men for that night brought in at least $100, according to the officials. In the ensuing three days, Lindsay and Pina posted additional advertisements on the website and set up additional appointments at a Windsor Locks hotel.

Officials said the victim turned all the money from the appointments over to Lindsay.

Lindsay, who has been detained since his arrest on August 20, 2020, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking of a minor on October 15 last year, while Pina pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor on October 6, 2021. Pina was sentenced in March to 96 months (eight years) in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.

Investigators with the FBI also found that Lindsay and Pina engaged in sex acts with the victim despite knowing that she was a minor, according to officials. The victim also reported that Lindsay physically assaulted her.

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Three people died and twelve were rushed to the OKEU Hospital after a collision involving two vehicles at Bexon on Friday.

The collision occurred near the Odsan junction.

Acting Fire Chief George Victorin told St Lucia Times that the Saint Lucia Fire Service (SLFS) received a distress call after 4:30 pm.

“When we got on the scene we found two vehicles were involved in a collision and there were quite a number of casualties,” Victorin stated.

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He said the vehicles involved were a minibus and a panel van.

The SLFS official said emergency responders transported twelve individuals to the OKEU Hospital.

Victorin also said there were three fatalities as a result of the collision between the two vehicles.

The Acting Fire Chief told St Lucia Times that a medical practitioner at the scene pronounced them dead.

Reports indicate that the deceased included a female infant.

Victorin explained that the SLFS summoned resources from several fire stations, including its Castries Headquarters to respond to the incident with ambulances and fire appliances.

In addition, he disclosed that emergency responders received good support from off-duty members of the SLFS.

“They found themselves on the scene which is usually the case whenever there is the need. There are always fire personnel who are very willing, even though off-duty, to make themselves available to help in whatever way they can,” Victorin told St Lucia Times.

And while admitting that the situation posed a challenge, he commended the fire service personnel and the police, asserting that both did a great job in managing the scene.

Headline photo: Screen grab from social media video

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