Even though the Government accepted the Inter-American Development Bank’s apology for conducting an improper survey with students, she said that better should be done going forward and children would not be used as “guinea pigs”.
“I have said to the Minister [of Education Kay McConney] that we need to make sure going forward – and I have been discussing this with a number of people – that clearly we live in an era now where the Ministry would have to establish an ethics review committee to ensure that those things you go into schools to talk to or to survey with respect to children pass a minimum threshold test. As a result, we don’t want anyone to think that this is open season for our children,” Mottley said.
“We do not support that, so I have told the Ministry that the Inter-American Development Bank must take action as a matter of urgency. Their quick and rapid apology is greatly appreciated, and I remind them and all others that Barbadian schoolchildren should not be used as guinea pigs by people in circumstances where it is inappropriate, and in which they are being exposed to things that are especially inappropriate for their age. By establishing an ethics review committee, I believe that the ministry will be able to manage and govern the process more effectively.”
A story published by Barbados TODAY on Tuesday under the headline Alarming Test brought to light the test saga which involved students from five of the island’s secondary schools having to take invasive questions in a survey as part of a Computer Science test that caused many students to feel uncomfortable.
Among other things, they were asked about their sexuality, gender, mental state, and home circumstances.
