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LAWYER SAYS PARENTS WILLING TO ACCEPT OUT-OF-COURT SETTLEMENT IN IDB SURVEY LAWSUIT

By Emmanuel Joseph

A group of parents is following through on its plan to take legal action against the Government over the controversial Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-sponsored survey administered to hundreds of school children last October.
Government was formally served with a pre-action warning letter indicating that court action will be taken unless it agrees to accept liability for the impact that the survey had on students.
However, attorney-at-law Ajamu Boardi who is leading a three-member legal team representing three parents who are bringing the action, revealed on Friday that because “there was no firm position taken” by lawyers for the State in their response, a lawsuit will be filed in the High Court shortly.
“We have written a pre-action protocol letter to them [Ministry of Education] indicating that they are liable for what they have done with the student survey, and their lawyers have written back saying they are taking instructions from the client,” Boardi told Barbados TODAY.
“The Solicitor General’s lawyers, on the Ministry of Education’s behalf, wrote back to us, saying that they are taking instructions from the Ministry of Education on liability and they will get back shortly.
“Because there was no firm position taken [in the May 10 letter of reply], legal action will be taken shortly,” Boardi added, noting that the deadline for a response from the Solicitor General’s Office had already expired.
In October last year, first-form students at five secondary schools completed the IDB survey, as part of a Computer Science pre-test, that included questions parents deemed intrusive. The questions that sparked public outrage included whether students ever deliberately tried to hurt or kill themselves, heard sounds or voices that other people think aren’t there, thought about suicide, or wished they were of the opposite sex. Boardi, who is being assisted in the pending court action by lawyers Meshack Thornill and Alicia Dells, disclosed that the parents of the children are seeking, among other things, damages.
At the same time, he is leaving the door open for an out-of-court settlement if the State accepts and agrees to the claims outlined in the parents’ letter before the matter is lodged in court.
“We are saying they breached the provisions of the Data Protection Act, they breached the clients’ right to privacy, frustrated their legitimate expectations with respect to privacy, parental rights, family life, and the rights of their children,” Boardi said. “There is a constitutional aspect as well. They have breached their rights not to be deprived of property under the Constitution, the property being the data collected.”
The IDB has expressed regret that the survey had offended many citizens and apologised. It also stated that the questions at the centre of concern, to which the Ministry of Education had objected prior to the administering of the survey, were inadvertently left in the paper.
However, Minister of Education, Technological and Vocational Training Kay McConney said even though the Government had previously accepted an apology from the IDB, her ministry had responsibility for the island’s students.
“We accept our responsibility for the mistakes that have been made in the execution of the pre-test,” she said at the time. “I know that this Ministry must take responsibility for not having checked back well enough to make sure that what we asked to be removed was actually removed, and because I am the minister with responsibility for this ministry, the buck stops with me, and I, therefore, accept responsibility on behalf of the Ministry that I lead for this unfortunate situation.”
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb