IDB insists supporting youth development is its only agenda

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on Monday made clear it is not trying to get controversial Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) into local schools through the back door.

In fact, the Washington-based institution told Barbados TODAY on Monday that it “has no other agenda than to support youth development through the strengthening of public education policies and programmes” in this country.

CSE, a curriculum-based process of teaching and learning about the cognitive, emotional, physical and social aspects of sexuality, has faced resistance in the United States and other Caribbean countries amid concern that it promotes sexual education in an unhealthy and disruptive manner.

Questions were raised about the possibility of the IDB trying to slip CSE into the school curriculum after revelations that a survey administered without parental approval to first-formers in five secondary schools, as part of a Computer Science project the lending agency is administering, included questions about students’ sexuality and gender identity.

Asked by Barbados TODAY if the IDB was trying to facilitate, in any way, the introduction of the CSE agenda in local schools, or whether the Bank supported implementing the process here, the financial institution’s Country Department in Barbados replied: “The answer to your question is ‘no’. The IDB works in partnership with its member countries to support each country’s development agenda.”

“We are working in collaboration with the Ministry of Education of Barbados and there is no other agenda than to support youth development through the strengthening of public education policies and programmes,” it added.

Education Minister Kay McConney has also categorically denied that the survey was tied to a recent IDB loan agreement with Barbados.

“The answer is unequivocally no,” she declared on Sunday’s edition of VOB’s Down to Brass Tacks, days after the IDB accepted full responsibility for the survey and admitted that even though the Education Ministry objected to certain questions being included, it was still disseminated to students in its original format.

During that radio programme, Chief Executive Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw who previously apologised on the Ministry’s behalf also admitted that a similar test was also conducted at other secondary schools in June this year, although she did not identify those schools.

The IDB’s denial of any CSE agenda came on the same day that social activist Marcia Weekes staged a one-man protest just outside Queen’s Park to draw attention to what she views as a gross level of negligence on the part of the Ministry and to head off any possible introduction of the programme in schools here.

Weekes, whose demonstration took place under overcast skies and intermittent showers just yards away from the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, queried whether the survey questions were connected to the CSE programme used in North America.

She said parents and educators on the island had a right to know if such moves are being planned locally.

“The parents created a big issue as well because they saw the connection between the Comprehensive Sexuality Education and the contents of this test. You have to ask yourself ‘what is the purpose of that kind of data? Is it that it’s going to be given to a guidance counsellor that is going to help the children?’ We don’t know yet.

“This is why I am asking the Prime Minister and Minister of Education to declare to us if the Comprehensive Sexuality Education programme is being introduced into the schools in Barbados? Did they sign onto that?”

Carrying a large poster displaying messages such as ‘Kick Out Kay!’ ‘Apology Not Enough’ and ‘Heads Must Roll!’, Weekes was also adamant that the public needs to be briefed on the stance of police, as well as that of Data Protection Commissioner Lisa Greaves on the matter.

She suggested that based on the fact that sensitive information had been collected – including children’s home circumstances – Barbados’ Data Protection Act 2021 might have been breached.

“The question we want to know from her [Greaves] is, has the matter been brought to her? According to the laws of Barbados, this matter should have been brought to her within 72 hours. What occurred . . . is a clear breach of the Data Protection Act.

“She is the person who was appointed to enforce the Data Protection Act, so we need to hear from her,” Weekes contended.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb