THE education ministry has pulled from primary schools a religious textbook which government lawyers said discriminates against Rastafarians. The book, which was being used at the grade five level, was pulled last month after a review by education ministry officials.

The controversial drawing on Page 138 of Religious Education for Primary Schools, Book 5. The education ministry has pulled the book from schools.

Religious Education for Primary Schools, Book 5, is penned by local writer Bethune McLaughlin and published by Garvis School Supplies. On page 138, it has a drawing of a Rastafarian man, dressed in a red, yellow and green tam, grabbing a woman's handbag and running away. The Jerome Waite illustration is captioned: Rasta committing crime.

"It is not one of the books that has been authorised by the ministry," said education minister Maxine Henry-Wilson. "We do find it to be offensive."

In a release, the education ministry said its lawyers had "determined that there is sufficient evidence of discriminatory and derogatory material to support the ministry's view that the book is offensive in its present form".

"(The book) offers a disservice to the public interest as it is a breach of the constitutional provision affording protection to members of the society against discrimination," added the ministry.

On the earlier pages of the book, before the controversial drawing, there are extensive and complete notes about other religions such as Christianity, Islam and Bedwardism, which is indigenous to Jamaica.
Dub poet Mutabaruka, a prominent Rastafarian, was among the first to publicly raise concerns about the book. He blasted both the author and the publication which, he argued, discriminates against practising Rastafarians and the religion on a whole.

"My grandson is a Rasta; could you imagine him going to school with that book and sitting beside a youth who is not a Rasta? What do you think that would do to his mind?" the dub poet asked.
The book, which credits Leonard Howell as the founder of Rastafarianism, also said that the movement gathered momentum around Howell's preaching of hatred of the white race.

Other points about Rastafarianism that are included in the book which Rastafarians consider patronising, offensive and untrue include assertions that:

. Rastas believe the devil is the white man's god;
. Rastas believe they are a superior race;
. the woman's role in Rastafarianism is a subordinate one; and
. that Rastas only accept the Bible as long as passages can be found which are in harmony with their unique doctrine.

The negative portrayal of Rastafarians in the textbook has also irked musician Herbie Harris, who plays keyboards in the popular Third World Reggae Band.

"You would have thought that this book was written in the 60s and not in the post-millennium era when we (Rastas) have come such a long way," Harris said. "It gets even worse when you find out that the book was written by a Jamaican."

Despite these concerns, Dorrett Campbell, the director of communications and quality co-ordination at the education ministry, said they had received no complaints about the contents of the book. The ministry took action, Campbell said, after the book set off red flags for an education officer who saw it being used during a visit to a school in St Andrew.

"It was brought to our attention late last year, about November or so," she said. "So we advised the Core Curriculum Unit to review it, and the review did come up with the same thing that other people in the public were concerned about."

The book was pulled in early February, she said, after failed attempts to contact the author.

"We wanted to find her to advise her that we intended to pull it from schools and (that we intend to) disassociate ourselves from it," Campbell explained. "The thing is, we can also engage in dialogue with her and, if she is willing, we can point out how she can modify her text. We can't stop her from putting it on the market, but we can help her to modify the text to make it more viable for schools."
Unable to contact McLaughlin, the ministry finally mailed her a notice to a Post Office Box address.

"We've been trying to get a proper address so it could have been hand-delivered, and that is why we stayed the (press) release for so long. We couldn't stay it any longer, so we mailed the letter to her," the education ministry official said.

Under the Education Act, the ministry makes recommendations about the curriculum taught in public schools. It has to give the nod on the list of textbooks used, including supplementary texts selected by school administrators.
"All textbooks recommended by the ministry have to be vetted, and our media services department looked at it and ruled that it was not in keeping with our mandate," the minister said.

While it does not formally review all the books used in the primary school system, authors and publishers usually submit publications for review before the books are completed and sent out to schools, said the ministry's release. That was not done in this case, the ministry added.

But the existing system obviously leaves room for unsuitable textbooks to filter into the school system.
"The ministry provides primary schools with basic textbooks. Schools sometimes need to supplement text books and they might shop around," Henry-Wilson said. "We can't stop them from buying it in the bookstore."

But with the lessons learned from McLaughlin's book, the ministry has become more vigilant. Now, at least two other textbooks are being reviewed.

"Since then we have been extremely vigilant and have been carefully looking at two others," said Campbell. She would not supply further details.

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