Dear Editor,

A press release from Opposition Spokesman on Education Senator Basil Waite on May 27 said the following: “Contrary to information carried within the media from various official sources, independent investigations by the Opposition have confirmed that the decision to postpone, cancel, reschedule or resit CSEC and CAPE examinations is not in the remit of the Caribbean Examinations Council (regional body) but resides with the local authorities, in the Ministry of Education.

“We further understand that it is possible for students to resit examinations before the reported January 2011 date as reported in the media, and these results can be made available within a period of two to four months of the decision to postpone exams.”

This was the advice that some experienced educators provided, even before the minister of education told the nation he was acting on the advice of authorities at the CXC, Barbados, regarding students sitting the examinations. I am not aware of the advice that the minister received and from which officer of the Council, but many of us found his declarations misleading.

The governing body in Barbados is obliged to accept the position of the local authorities as long as that position does not contravene the regulations of the council.

How can Minister Holness justify placing the health, lives, and well-being of our nation’s pupils at risk, amid all the problems we had late May and early June? How can the minister declare that he visited candidates who were sitting their examinations at The Mico University College after they endured nearly one hour of the terror of gunfire, and that he “gave them lunch and they are OK”? He went on to say, “They understand.” My God! “They understand!” This is absurd. There are precious few trained people who, as a direct result of their training and experience, can have such an encounter and respond with “emotional hardness”. Our children are not among these few.They should never have to be.

Academic examinations are not written while on one’s belly, under the very desk that was provided for the candidate’s paper. Examinations are not written while the candidates cower as gunshots hit the very building of the candidates’ examination centre. Candidates writing examinations should not do so under the fear of not being able to return home alive. Was it not enough that our children arrived at their examination centres under real fear for their lives and well-being? Not to mention the fear of “delaying their future” because they “would have to wait until the next sitting in January 2011” before they could resit their examinations? Did we have to cause them to suffer further terror while writing their examinations? These are not the conditions under which our children should be assessed and their performance evaluated.

We contend that the minister did not act in the best interest of the students that he is sworn to serve, therefore the minister should be sanctioned.

The minister must have caused psychological harm to our children, teachers, and families, by exposing them to unnecessary and unreasonable danger, advising parents that “the safety of our children is ultimately the parents’ responsibility”.

The minister was wrong. Our children’s safety is primarily the parents’ responsibility, but ultimately the state’s responsibility. The state is obligated to protect our children from danger posed by their parents or other sources. Our laws should protect our children from the state and its sworn functionaries.

Nero Tereau

St Andrew

NeroTereau@yahoo.com