#BTSpeakingOut – Negligence of the highest order

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

I want to add my voice to the discourse on the debacle of the survey/test that was administered to children without parental consent. The first thing I want persons to note is that there was nothing inadvertent about what was done. It was deliberate and done with a particular agenda, that agenda which is an international agenda is to desensitize children to the issues of sexual and gender identity. The move internationally is to get the society to become more “progressive” and embrace this new mode of thinking that says that you can be whatever you deem yourself to be.

Therefore, when you administer a test of this nature, it sows a seed in the minds of the impressionable child. That seed will be then be watered by an effective policy of information bombardment using all modalities. In a sense it could be seen as a type of sexual grooming. So be very clear parents and guardians, this is not the first or the last time this will occur. So, my suggestion to you is to be alert. The second suggestion I want to provide is this, to prove negligence on the part of the Ministry of Education, you must do three things as follows:

1. Establish that a duty of care was owed to the students.

2. Establish that the duty of care was breached.

3. Provide evidence that the student/child/ward suffered harm because of that breach.

Based on the details of the situation, all three elements can be proved, so if parents are serious about getting redress, they must act with dispatch to ensure that the last element above is captured by a visit to a medical practitioner/psychologist/psychiatrist who would be able to provide evidence of harm which was suffered.

Failure to do this would increase the probability of this matter suffering from the 7-day wonder of much talk and no action, or worse yet this matter will be obfuscated by some other ‘policy’ initiative designed and I quote “to dazzle the eyes of the prognosticators and create wonder among the inhabitants”. So, parents stay alert and stay on task, the future of your children depend on it.   

Ian A. Marshall, PhD

Lecturer: Educational Leadership

School of Education

President: West Indies Group of University Teachers (WIGUT)

University of the West Indies

Cave Hill Campus