A government senator on Tuesday delivered an impassioned indictment on the education system for failing to serve people living with disabilities.
Senator Andewle Boyce, who has cerebral palsy, used the opportunity to hit back at critics of education reform who believed the system “has served us” and that the government should “‘not trouble our education system that we should go only so far as curricular and no further’”.
Speaking on the Appropriations Bill debate on its second day in the Upper Chamber, Senator Boyce said: “There is a sentiment that I have heard expressed about the extent to which we should, I think, not trouble our education system, that we should go only so far as curricula and no further, Sir, because some argue that the education system has served us. Well, let me be very clear, Mr President: the education system in Barbados has not served persons with disabilities well.
“This idea that we should go as far as curricula and no further ignores things like the physical plants and the accommodations that we have to make in revamping our physical plants for the existing schools; many of them were not constructed for persons with disability.”
Reflecting on his time at school, the young senator, told the Senate that he did not speak on the issue in “the abstract” but centred on his personal experience as a wheelchair user.
He recalled deciding to use a wheelchair at the time of writing the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) due to medical challenges. “There were parts of the school that I went to that I could not go, Sir. I remember writing in my lap and on the side of the desk for a couple of days. I remember a member of staff saying to my parents, ‘maybe y’all should build him a desk’.”
“It goes further than curricular. Education reform in the name and in the interest of persons with disabilities is a moral imperative, Sir, if we do not do it,” an emotional Boyce told his colleague senators.
He referred to children on the autism spectrum and others who have other challenges who, he said, “require an aid in the classroom, [and] require that their teachers be trained in the issues of disability. The issues of instructing persons on the autism spectrum may need some . . . accommodations in relation to things like extra time and things like larger print. I say, again, it goes further than curriculum”.
Education, he explained, is a major issue for people living with disabilities because “the reality is that our education system is largely still segregated” on the basis of disability.
“Persons with disabilities go to particular institutions in the main and persons without disabilities go to other institutions in the main and we have to consider the extent to which such segregation in our education system limits the possibilities for persons with disabilities,” Senator Boyce said.
He added that he was “delighted” to hear the recent announcement by Prime Minister Mia Mottley of a 75 per cent tax credit for educational and life skills facilities for persons with special needs, because that is a part of the education system that “we have to build out”.
He added: “We have considered for a long time the realities of the traditional education system, but we also broaden our conception and our support for these institutions that may support individuals not only in the garnering of some academic skill but also in the development of life skills and, of course, this parliament supported the Autism Association earlier this year with a facility that permits them to provide that training.”
Looking back at the treatment of people with disabilities, the government senator said: “We have not always, some would tell you ever, lived up to the ideals of the country, but again, this government intends to do better.”
In the attempt to do better, the government, named a National Commission on Disability in June 2022, said Senator Boyce. Following consultations, including with the disabled community, ministers approved a National Disability Policy last September.
“The policy covers, 14 policy areas to include. . . education, transportation, sports and culture, employment; it covers a span of issues. . . women and girls gave their specific vulnerabilities as well. The policy is broken down into short-term, medium-term and long-term goals over the span of those seven years [2023-2030],” he said.
(FW)
