Education Chief says God not being removed from schools

God is not being removed from schools, Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw made clear on Thursday in response to claims levelled by The Spiritually Aware Group in a statement.

The group took issue with a circular issued by the Ministry of Education to principals on February 15 which states:
“…There should be no general assembly of students at any time in the face-to-face modality. For example, there should be no whole-school prayers, year group prayers or house prayers. Where possible, students should be allowed to engage in “mindfulness sessions” in their classrooms while following the COVID-19 protocols…”

The group charged that Government is attempting to stop prayer in schools.

“The Government of Barbados, at a time of an unknown and shaky future, where at every turn, there are problems internally and internationally, are proposing to stop a faith-based activity…PRAYER in our schools. Instead, the Government is now saying to us, the electorate, that this is now a time, of all times, to turn to an evidence-based, secular mode for our children.

This instruction to schools represents an onslaught on the next generation of Barbados our children; to strip them of the only aspect of our culture that can really save us.”

“They want the children to be able to meet for “mindfulness” activities but not to meet for prayer! How many Bajans before now even knew what “mindfulness” was beside being an adjective or descriptive word? Now it is a noun? Why can’t we believe in ourselves and stop depending on importation…even of concepts? When we’re not importing LGBTQ+, we’re importing Humanism. Now we’re importing “Mindfulness”, the statement said.

But in response, Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw said: “The Ministry of Education is not taking God out of schools… if you look at the circular that I saw circulating as well in the public forum, that circular was addressed to principals. It was intended for principals because we had a number of meetings prior to the distribution of the circular, which outlined how the sessions would go during the morning periods,”

Dr Archer-Bradshaw explained: “Instead of having general prayers, general assembly, we said that we would have the students come into the classrooms, we will find out how they are doing, we will interact with them because many of them have suffered loss, [and] we understand that. We want to hear from them, we want to be able to guide them accordingly to talk about love, compassion, and having understanding for the situation,” she said.

The Chief Education Officer disclosed she received several messages from worried persons who feared the ministry was somehow looking to move into a concerning direction, but she emphasized the temporary change was planned out thoroughly for the benefit of the island’s children.

“I received some messages as well talking about this new age movement, the Ministry of Education is not going in that direction at all. It was about being mindful of the situation that we are in, in this COVID-19 pandemic, and having conversations with our students to ready them for learning within the classroom.” (SB)

Read the full story in Thursday’s Epaper.