UWI lecturer says Government minister and CEO should be suspended

Both Education Minister Kay McConney and Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw should be suspended while a public enquiry is conducted into how the controversial Computer Science test was administered in local schools.

That is the view of human rights advocate Felicia Dujon, who is also imploring parents of students affected by the test to bring a class action lawsuit against the Government.

Dujon, a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, has contended that even though apologies were tendered by McConney, Dr Archer-Bradshaw and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), for their mistakes which led to 733 11-year-olds being questioned about their sexuality and gender identity, there was a need for an investigation.

She told Barbados TODAY it meant that both the minister and the Chief Education Officer should be “placed on leave” until those investigations were completed.

“Parents should request a public enquiry into the matter because what has happened is that we are hearing different persons saying different things. They are having several press conferences with truths and half-truths and sometimes we don’t know.

“Allegations are being thrown everywhere and we need a public enquiry as to what we have heard and in the interim we need the Minister of Education as well as the CEO to be placed on leave until that investigation is done,” Dujon said.

She maintained that the situation was so serious that parents should join together and take legal action against Government.

Dujon said the State had “overstepped its boundaries” and the only resolution was for the matter to be ventilated in the court of law.

“I think that parents at this stage should seek legal counsel to ensure that their rights are upheld and also to ensure that the Government recognizes the legal and moral rights of parents.

“The State cannot decide well this is what we’re going to do with your children, this is the kind of information we will feed them, this is the kind of information we will engage them in. They don’t have that right and they overstepped their boundaries by doing that and by doing that they have to be held accountable, not only socially but legally as well,” Dujon insisted.

“Parents have to launch a lawsuit against the State. They should have a class action lawsuit. I believe the parents at this stage should form a coalition, find an attorney or attorneys to represent them and file a lawsuit against the State and against the IDB and any other stakeholder that was involved in this unethical practice.”

Dujon said what had transpired was “illegal” and “a violation of children’s rights” and expressed surprise that international organisations such as UNICEF had not yet spoken out on the matter.

Meanwhile, the Barbados National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations (BNCPTA) said no decision had been taken on whether legal action would be taken over the survey.

“Not at this time, we haven’t discussed that at this time,” general secretary Nicole Brathwaite told Barbados TODAY when asked if the BNCPTA was considering taking the matter to court.    

“We are still trying to get together more of the persons that have been speaking to us to get a greater idea of what really they are thinking, but at this time that has not been completed.”

randybennett@barbadostoday.bb