Parents demand controversial tests administered by the IDB be returned

Hours after the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training tendered an “unreserved” apology in relation to a botched Computer Science test, scores of parents have demanded that the “illegal” scripts completed by their children be returned to them.

Barbados TODAY was reliably informed that the frustrated and disappointed parents made the request during an online Zoom meeting on Thursday evening convened with senior officials from the ministry and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The meeting was open to principals, teachers and parents of first form students.

It was the most recent development related to the controversial Computer Science test which was sanctioned by the Ministry of Education and administered by the IDB to first formers at five secondary schools across the island.

The test quizzed the 11-year-olds on gender and sexuality-related topics and also gathered information pertaining to the students’ parents.

The IDB accepted full responsibility for the questions being included on the survey, without the ministry’s permission, and issued an apology on Wednesday night.

And while Barbados TODAY was reliably informed that several of the parents accepted the apology of Chief Education Officer, Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw made on behalf of the ministry, they maintained that they had not given permission for their children to be quizzed on such sensitive information.

Sources related that the parents insisted that the Ministry of Education make the scripts available to them.

One irate parent was said to have given the Ministry of Education a deadline of tomorrow to have them returned.

However, Barbados TODAY was informed that although an official from the Ministry of Education described what had transpired with the tests as “illegal,” parents were told a decision on whether the tests would be returned to them would be made following further discussions with senior officials at the Ministry of Education.

According to reports some parents indicated they “had lost trust in the Ministry of Education” while others called for someone to be held accountable.

The parents also pointed out that the incident now left them questioning what was being taught in schools and if similar invasive questions had been asked previously.

They also called for an apology to be issued to those first form students who took the test.

Barbados TODAY also understands that Dr Archer-Bradshaw told parents there was the possibility that the students who did the test would receive counselling.

In her earlier apology, Dr Archer-Bradshaw said while the IDB had accepted responsibility for the massive error made by failing to remove questions which the Ministry of Education had requested be omitted, she acknowledged that the ministry was partly responsible.

“The Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training unreservedly accepts that in the final analysis it must take responsibility for the unfortunate exposure of some of our secondary school children to questions that offended them, their parents and other stakeholders in our educational system.

“Notwithstanding the fact that the Inter-American Development Bank which administered the survey has already apologised for its failure to honour a prior commitment to the ministry to remove the offending questions before placing them before the children, the ministry now tenders its own apology.

“Clearly what has transpired has left us in no doubt that we took too much for granted in not vetting the final survey. The ministry now assures all stakeholders that the offensive scripts will be destroyed and there will be no further use of the survey without our explicit and complete scrutiny,” Dr Archer-Bradshaw said.

“More importantly the ministry has already started the process of reforming its own policy on data collection in our schools to ensure that incidents such as this are never repeated. The interest, safety and the protection of the rights of our children remain our top priority.”

Dr Archer-Bradshaw, however, gave parents the assurance that the ministry continued to maintain confidence in the overall purpose and aim of the project, which includes the effective development of computer science skills among first-year secondary school students.

While president of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Rudy Lovell accepted the apology, he said more questions still remained unanswered.

Lovell queried whether counselling would be provided to those children who were affected by the tests.

He also questioned whether Code.org, which had been identified as the organisation behind the test, was in fact responsible.

“Will counselling and guidance be provided for students impacted by the survey?  Why was the pre-test administered under the guise of Computer Science? Was the pretest a Code.org pre-test? Did Code.org sanction the pre-test questions? Did Code.org organise or provide personnel to supervise the examinations? What role did Code.org play in the survey? How could these questions be administered against the wishes of the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training? What measures will be implemented to prevent a recurrence of such an event?” Lovell asked in a press release.

“We are hopeful that there are no psychological effects on the students due to exposure to this online survey.”

Code.org confirmed on Thursday that the test was not one of theirs.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb