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From left: Principal of the Barbados Community College, Gladstone Best; UNESCO Director (Jamaica), Dr. Kwame Boafo; Director of the Higher Education Development Unit, Dr. Patrick Rowe;??Ronnie Collins Snr; Principal of Erdiston Teachers Training College, Dr. Barbara Parris; and Minister of Education, Ronald Jones, are pictured at the conference. (A. Miller/BGIS)

A Barbadian educator has been praised for her work and influence in the diaspora.

She is Dr. Esther Simmons, whose early influence on Provost of Coppin State University in Maryland, Ronnie Collins Snr., has not gone unrecognised.

Mr. Rollins acknowledged this yesterday as he presented Minister of Education and Human Resource Development, Ronald Jones, with a token of appreciation on behalf of that campus, at the opening of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education held last evening at Hilton Barbados.

Lauding the Barbadian native, he said: "It has taken me 38 years to arrive at the birthplace of a phenomenal educator whose fair-minded, student-centred, no-nonsense approach to education literally transformed my life."

Noting that the former Ms. Osborne was now a retired, distinguished Professor of English from Bowie State University in Maryland (USA), he stressed, "Her legacy will live on far into the future. As a professor, she was without equal, and I was blessed to have been taught by her."?? And, the Provost showered praise on "the Barbadian education system – past and present – that produced a Dr. Esther Osborne who pushed her students to academic heights unimaginable."

As he made the presentation to Minister Jones, Mr. Rollins said: "The gift that I bring this evening is but a small token of appreciation to you for the hundreds and hundreds of Barbadian educators who have impacted the lives of thousands upon thousands of students in both national and international educational settings."

joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb

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