EDUCATION MINISTER SAYS NO GENDER NEUTRAL BATHROOMS OR GENDER POLICY SHIFT IN PLACE
By Sheria Brathwaite
Minister of Education,Technological and Vocational Training Kay McConney has made it clear that no policy related to gender neutrality or gender identity has either been introduced or is being considered for implementation in the island’s schools.
She sought to make that position clear on Thursday as she rejected suggestions that the ministry had instituted a policy that permitted primary school students to use any bathroom, regardless of their gender, and that it had taken effect at the St Philip Primary School.
In fact, McConney dismissed that as “an outright lie”.
“I wanted to come to the school to see for myself what is being perpetrated as a change in policy and an agenda that is being pushed here at St Philip Primary or any other school . . . that seeks to put girls and boys together in spaces which would not be appropriate. I am here to say it’s an outright lie and it is unfortunate that we have people who think that it is okay to make up whatever they think they should be saying for whatever reasons they have made it up and then seek to put it on principals . . . ,” she said after she and Deputy Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson visited the Church Village, St Philip school and met with principal Pamelatta Bhamjee on Thursday.
The principal also sought to clarify any confusion surrounding bathroom signage.
Bhamjee explained that the European Union had given the school a number of signs for different areas, including the bathrooms. She said the signs were in English, Spanish and French but there was no change to bathroom designation or usage.
She insisted that only boys can use bathrooms designated for boys and only girl can use girls’ bathrooms.
“Our policies have not changed. The children know exactly where they should go. All the boys know where the boys’ bathroom is located and they go there. The girls know exactly where the girls’ bathroom is located; they see the signs, they can read it in Spanish, they can read it in English, and they can see the label that says this is the bathroom for female students and that’s where they go.
“So no policies have changed at this school. If you are a male and you step over the threshold of the girls’ bathroom it is a serious consequence,” Bhamjee added.
Further reiterating that there was no policy shift, Minister McConney stressed that any major changes in the educational system would have to be discussed on a national level.
“We have not changed any policy whatsoever as it relates to the bathroom or anything else relating to transgender, sexual fluidity or identifying in any different ways. Those are conversations that have not been had and this Government and this ministry and this school has no interest whatsoever in foisting any of this onto the parents and the children of this country,” she asserted.
Earlier in the day, a voice note circulating on social media suggested that the St Philip Primary School now had gender neutral bathrooms.
A radio news report was subsequently aired on the matter.
As news of the allegations spread, president of the Barbados Union of Teachers Rudy Lovell told Barbados TODAY that the union had not been informed about any such situation by either its stewards at the school nor the Ministry of Education.
However, he stressed that “any new initiative in education should be discussed at the national level with key stakeholders”.
The Education Minister said she was taken aback that the allegation about the situation at St Philip Primary had hit the airwaves, especially given that no official complaint had been made to the school.
“I have spoken with Pamelatta Bhamjee myself and [she] has verified that at no point has the ministry informed her of any change of policy. There have been no meetings with parents and, in fact, she has said that there have been no inquiries raised with her directly as principal except for this morning when there was a news item. And the same parent that raised that . . . did not raise it at that time until this morning,” McConney said.
“Therefore, no one has spoken to Mrs Adamson at the ministry, no parent has called, no one else has called. So it makes me wonder if this is such a major issue at this time, why has Bhamjee . . . not been asked. Why has Mrs Adamson, who has a responsibility, not been asked? Why has the ministry itself not received any significant complaints but we can hear this in the media?”
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
