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Minister of Education McConney Survives Cabinet Reshuffle

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Minister of Education Kay McConney

The latest in the world of local politics has been the announcement by Prime Minister Mottley of a Cabinet reshuffle that includes the deployment of MP for the City Corey Layne to the Attorney General’s office. Minister of Education Kay McConney continues to enjoy the confidence of the Prime Minister at a time there is public dissatisfaction directed at the Ministry of Education over the IDB Survey. 

Before the news of the reshuffle the blogmaster intended to share a thought about the political chaos unfolding in the UK. Particularly the fact members of the cabinet and prime ministers have been routinely resigning. The UK will have 5 prime ministers in a 6 year period with the recent resignation of the Prime Minister Liz Truss holding that office for 44 days. 

The way politics is practiced in Britain ministers of government will resign if thought to be failing by civil society or fired by the Prime Minister and if backing is withdrawn by the Parliamentary Group. Although Barbados is promoted as borrowing from the Westminster system of government practiced by Britain, ministers here rarely if ever resign from Cabinet. Case in point, Kay McConney. The IDB Survey fiasco exposed a flawed process governing how the survey was administered to 11 year olds. The Chief Education Officer and Minister of Education admitted mistakes were made. More importantly, parents and citizens weeks later continue to register concerns via social and traditional media – even protest on the streets albeit not in sufficient numbers. However public calls for disciplinary action to be taken continue to be ignored by Prime Minister Mottley.

Not too long ago when a Mottley lead Barbados Labour Party was elected, she promised Barbadians her government would have been transparent managing the affairs of state and members of her Cabinet held to account. It is obvious from the reshuffle Prime Minister Mottley intends to ignore the concerns of Barbadians regarding the embarrassingly flawed execution of the IDB Survey to our children. The blogmaster suspects there will be a political price her government will have to pay for the decision.

Of interest to political pundits was her replacement of low energy member of parliament for St. Michael North West Neil Rowe. In the last 48 hours news about alleged ungentlemanly conduct by the MP has been shared in the social media space. Is the sacking of Rowe confirmation there is currency to what the man has been accused? If what is being shared is correct- the blogmaster has not heard of a denial from the MP up to cobbling this blog- then a question has to be asked, answered and addressed – has Barbados become a ghetto country?

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226 responses to “Minister of Education McConney Survives Cabinet Reshuffle”

  1. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    The PM’s excuse (I call it like I see it) for placing Cummins, Walcott, Gooding- Edghill and Symmonds in their new roles was their education and real-world experience in their new postings (for Symmonds it was mentoring by Billie Miller).

    Which begs the question wasn’t all that apparent when the Cabinet was named? None of these people are newcomers. Couldn’t that have been done after the last Election?

    You could fool all the people all the time.

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/10/22/new-cabinet-changes-to-take-effect-on-wednesday/

  2. David Avatar
    David

    DLP: Cabinet reshuffle a knee-jerk reaction
    The Cabinet shifts announced last night by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley is a knee jerk reaction which misses the mark, says President of Democratic Labour Party Dr Ronnie Yearwood.
    In giving his preliminary thoughts following a meeting with his supporters in St James South, he said Minister of Education Kay McConney should been moved from that portfolio.
    “Following a demonstration of concerned parents and three weeks of calls for the resignation of the Minister of Education, the fact that the Prime Minister hasn’t touched Kay McConney, is a clear message to the people that she cares nothing for their concerns,” he said.
    The DLP leader also took issue with the way Mottley announced the changes, which take effect from Wednesday.
    “The reshuffle is a knee jerk reaction to the growing tide of dissatisfaction with this administration. All of them can’t add up to one effective minister. And the disrespect to use a party conference to announce this reshuffle – the Prime Minister obviously doesn’t understand good governance,” he said. (CA)

    Source: Nation

  3. David Avatar
    David

    PM: We must stand strong to fight
    Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley last night made changes to her Cabinet to take “fresh guard” for the challenges facing Barbados.
    Delivering the feature address on Day 2 of the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) annual general conference in Queen’s Park, The City, she said the changes were important as the country comes out of the COVID-19 pandemic having escaped serious injury, charting a new path in leading the Barbados to its 2030 economic and social targets.
    Mottley said the party was moving from a position of Mission Critical to one of Mission Barbados.
    “I have now, like any good captain, to make some adjustments again to make sure that we will extract the best and the most we can extract in order for us to wrestle down these challenges that are within our capacity to fight,” she told party faithful under a large tent, many decked in red.
    “We need to come together strong to fight them,” she added.
    Effective Wednesday, The Most Honourable Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, and Senior Minister for coordinating Social Sectors and Environmental Policy, will be Minister of Health and Wellness, replacing Ian Gooding-Edghill. Walcott was a former Minister of Health under the Owen Arthur administration.
    The Prime Minister said Walcott, a surgeon, had been a Trojan for the party in his position of general secretary, had achieved great things in the health care sector and would be expected to continue in that vein as the new minister.
    “The battle continues
    for us to be able to wrestle down chronic NCDs (noncommunicable diseases) and to get the problems at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Geriatric Hospital and Psychiatric Hospital solved,” Mottley said.
    Walcott had also worked from 2020 along with former Minister of Health Jeffrey Bostic to help develop Barbados’ framework in battling the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Gooding-Edghill, a former player in the tourism sector, becomes the new Minister of Tourism and International Transport, replacing Senator Lisa Cummins, who had been elevated to that position in Mottley’s July 2020 Cabinet shake-up.
    Cummins will now take responsibility for the Ministry of Energy and Business Development with responsibility for International Business and Trade, replacing Kerrie Symmonds. “Many may not know her training has been in foreign trade and foreign diplomacy,” the Prime Minister said about Cummins.
    Symmonds, Senior Minister with responsibility for the Productive Sectors, will become Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, his third ministry since the BLP took the reins of Government in 2018, having already been Minister of Tourism, and Minister of Energy and Business Development. He had previously cut his teeth in foreign trade, having worked with former long-time minister Dame Billie Miller.
    “The adjustments are intended to strengthen the Government’s hand to deal with the issues that are before us. I have confidence that we can do it,” Mottley said.
    In addition, Member of Parliament (MP) for The City, Corey Lane, was promoted to Minister of
    State in the Office of the Attorney General, with responsibility for Crime Prevention. The first-time MP is currently Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs.
    The Prime Minister also revealed that long-time St Thomas MP Cynthia Forde will be nominated as Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly on Tuesday morning. (BA)

    Source: Nation

  4. David Avatar
    David

    McConney maintains she won’t resign
    Minister of Education Kay McConney is adamant she will not be resigning amid continuing calls for her to step down.
    Yesterday, a group of concerned citizens and parents marched through Bridgetown and added their voices to those who have called for her to move following the IDB survey taken by first form students.
    The minister’s comment came at the end of her report on what had taken place in her ministry where she also charted events from her appointment following the Barbados Labour Party’s general election victory and manifesto pledges that were kept.
    “. . . For those of you who are asking the question, no, I don’t plan to resign,” she told cheering party supporters before leaving the stage.
    Earlier she spoke about education reform and noted that as far as the Common Entrance Exam was concerned and whether it would be kept or not, a proposal was before Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.
    Move to secondary school
    “I will say to you that what we will do to help
    move children from primary to secondary right now – the only thing we have is the Common Entrance Exam, that is the way for you to move from one level to the next. However, there is consideration being given as to what else we can do and I’m not being cagey, I’m being very straight with you.
    “Over the last several months, our Ministry has been having discussions with the National Parent Teachers’ Council, with the teachers’ unions, with the principals’ associations and other partners in education to determine what education reform will look like particularly when it comes to restructuring that basic education system from primary into secondary. . . , “That proposal from our collective meetings is now with the Prime Minister about to go before Cabinet. And the commitment I make to our unions, to our parent-teachers associations is that when we go public for a national consultation, we will go that road with them” she said.
    The Minister stated that reform was not only about curriculum reform, but was about having better teachers, “professionalising the teaching profession, having better leaders, and about looking at the infrastructure at schools
    to make sure they were physically and digitally ready for the 21st century.
    McConney also reported that civics had been reintroduced in schools, while there would be a “reinvigorated” agricultural programme. She said 739 people had gone through the construction gateway training programme for tradespersons with the hope they would be employed in the anticipated construction boom in Barbados.
    (GBM)

    Source: Nation

  5. David Avatar
    David

    Pastor: Minister’s apology not enough
    A veteran pastor has joined the chorus of calls for the resignation of Minister of Education Kay McConney and Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw over the controversial survey administered to 11-year-olds.
    Senior pastor of the House of Freedom Ministries, Reverend Dr Ferdinand Nicholls, made the call at the start of a protest march yesterday which began at Kensington Oval and ended in Independence Square, The City.
    The crowd, which he said police estimated to be about 250 people, could be heard chanting “Save our kids”, “We will march for our rights” and “We fed up”. It comprised adults, and children ranging from three months to 17 years old.
    They carried placards that read Stop Sexualising Our Children
    and We Say No To The New Sex Education Curriculum, with songs blaring, including Bob Marley’s Get Up, Stand Up, from a music truck.
    They were marching against the October 3 Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) survey by first formers at five secondary schools which included questions about sexuality, was administered without parents’ permission and which many deemed to be wholly inappropriate.
    Survey ‘confusing’
    “We are calling for the resignation of the Minister of Education, Chief Education Officer and anyone responsible for approving the survey to be conducted in the schools. An apology is not enough,” Nicholls declared.
    The minister, who has already apologised to the country, also stated that she had no plans of resigning.
    Nicholls said the survey exposed children to comprehensive sexuality education that was “confusing”.
    “Children are our future and as a nation, we have to create an environment in which they can flourish and grow up to be productive citizens. Confusing them with sex and gender ideology is counter-productive,” he said.
    He added there was another way to introduce children to sex education.
    “We are saying a conclusive ‘no’ to the introduction of comprehensive sexuality education in our preschools,
    primary and secondary schools and a ‘yes’ to the teaching of sex education based on an optimal health approach.”
    The veteran minister said he also wanted to encourage parents to pursue a class action suit against the Ministry of Education and other entities responsible for the survey.
    “As parents of children in Barbados we are simply concerned about what was done to our students, particularly in the context of the fact that it was against the laws of Barbados according to Section 8 of the Data Protection Act. If we want justice to be served, we would like to encourage parents to take a class action lawsuit if necessary against the Ministry of Education, IDB and Code.org,” the pastor said.
    He then advised the Ministry of Education and Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley to “draft a policy for sex education in schools clearly identifying what is to be taught to our children about sexual orientation and gender identity”.
    Social activist Lumuba Batson, who was also part of the protest action, said the march was a step in the right decision and hoped their efforts would not go unnoticed.
    “One march is not going to do anything in particular but it is the consistency of it. As they [Ministry of Education] keeping up their resistance, we also have to keep up our resistance too. What I hope to gain is that we continue to resist and resist until our goals are met,” he said. (RT)

    Source: Nation

  6. David Avatar
    David

    This article by Peter Laurie cuts through the BS.

    #process
    #accountability

    The controversial school survey

    The following article was submitted by Peter Laurie, a former head of the Barbados Foreign Service and author of several books.
    The controversial IDB-sponsored survey administered to hundreds of 11-year-olds at our secondary schools has rightly raised both legal and ethical issues, including privacy, consent, ageappropriateness, and data protection.
    I don’t know who was responsible for the screw-up, but the buck stops with the Minister of Education. Enough said.
    At the same time, the media and most commentators seem more interested in sensationalising the issue than explaining the context of the survey to the public.
    Here are the facts as far as I understand them.
    The survey was conducted as part of the IDB Code Caribbean Project that seeks to expand technological skills in selected Caribbean countries based on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM). The aim is to strengthen the digital skills of secondary school students by training in computer science and by introducing them to coding so that they become makers rather than simply consumers of digital technology.
    The two-year project is a joint partnership between the Ministry of Education and the IDB. It’s funded by the Porticus Foundation and the Japan Development Fund and is implemented in collaboration with The Trust for the Americas, Code.org, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the Ministries of Education of Belize and Barbados.
    Barbados and Belize were chosen to host the pilot programme.
    The project is clearly one from which Barbadians stand to benefit substantially because of our reliance on intellectual capital, our major natural resource.
    Impact of project
    Where the ministry fell down was in not screening with due diligence the survey or ‘pre-test’ that was chosen (by whom?) as part of the project. The purpose of the pre-test was, presumably, to evaluate the project’s impact on reducing negative behaviours among the children involved.
    The questionnaire used
    was apparently based on the Child Behaviour Checklist Youth Self-Report (YSR), a component of the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) that has been used worldwide for decades by psychologists to detect behavioural and emotional problems in children and adolescents, primarily in a clinical setting but also, under professional supervision, in schools.
    Normally, when the test is used a written informed consent is obtained from parents with the child’s assent.
    So, all sorts of questions arise: was this particular survey the appropriate one for the project? Was it necessary to subject 11-year-olds to 300 questions lasting two hours? Did the Ministry of Education make every effort to ensure that the questionnaire was vigorously vetted from a legal, ethical and cultural point of view for Barbadian eleven-year-olds? What instructions and counselling were given pre- and post administration?
    This controversy, however, also raises a wider social issue.
    Amid the firestorm of outrage, several commentators, religious and secular, suggested that the questionnaire was part of an insidious plot by ‘foreigners’ to undermine the traditional values of Barbadians and inflict their own perverted godless ideas on us through the devious indoctrination of our children.
    Astonishing heights
    Some of the arguments reached astonishing heights of absurdity: maybe the government was offering up our young children as a sacrifice in return for an IDB loan? Perhaps the survey was the thin edge of a wedge by the Government to recondition the minds of our youth to accept same-sex civil unions? Some even suggested that Barbados was being de-Christianised as the Muslims build more mosques and the ‘Hindus more temples, one for each of their gods’.
    Now, it’s one thing to argue the questionnaire used was inappropriate and to criticise the ministry, but to suggest, without any evidence, that any of the institutions associated with the project have a hidden agenda to undermine Barbadian values is preposterous and slanderous.
    But we have heard this song before. It is sung whenever there is a proposal to change any of our institutions or laws: like capital punishment, or flogging children in schools, or
    discrimination against homosexuals, or even, God forbid, the Common Entrance Exam.
    And there is a full-throated chorus when the proposed change is more fundamental, like the move to a Parliamentary Republic.
    Don’t get me wrong. The Barbadian conservative impulse is a healthy one.
    Indeed, Barbados’ longstanding reputation for political stability is rooted in the continuous interplay of our conservative and progressive instincts, or as Trinidadian Professor of sociology Anthony Maingot put it in his book on the Caribbean, “Of all the countries of the Greater Caribbean, Barbados has most successfully combined a deep respect for tradition with a constant attempt to modernise.”
    I confess I’m on the progressive/modernising side of our culture, although I appreciate the need for the conservative side, for there are times when we rush through too many changes without proper preparation, consolidation, or follow-up.
    But there are also times when reactionary conservatism has run amok, as in the present controversy and becomes paranoia.
    This phenomenon is not unique to Barbados. Around the world, the authoritarian populist right is waging a war against liberal modernity. Russian President [Vladimir] Putin openly attacks such ‘degenerate’ Western ideologies as democracy, feminism, multiculturalism, secularism and homosexuality as existential threats to the soul of Russia.
    And, of course, the mere mention of ‘gender fluidity’ causes insecure males everywhere to foam at the mouth.
    Hey, chill. Okay?


    Source:Nation

  7. Igud Fuhnow Avatar
    Igud Fuhnow

    I hope y’all like that birdie the micro-manager flipped wunna yesterday.

    Keep pretending that the Minister of Education, or any other Minister could authorize the changing of a light-bulb without getting permission from the micro-manager..
    Keep pretending that the micro-manager had no knowledge of the survey.

    If y’all keep calling for the wrong head, then wunna could expect plenty more birds or to be completely ignored. Ask the nurses if wunna doubt me then.

    Put that in wunna pipe and smoke um.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    In our system of government like Peter Laurie confirmed the buck stops with the minister in the matter being prosecuted, if McConney was unaware she should resign and say why. Recall Jeffery Bostic indicated he was unaware of a vaccine deal with Radical although his PS signed off. What worked for him is that he had indicated no appetite to continue as minister. Mia will NOT resign over this matter, the people must go for wins that are achievable. Ministers don’t resign in Barbados far less prime ministers.

  9. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    “and the ‘Hindus more temples, one for each of their gods’.”

    Shakti (divine energy)
    Per the Vedic texts, there are 33 gods and per the Puranas 330 million or more.

    Shiva
    God of Destruction
    Para Brahman, the Supreme Being
    Ultimate Reality, Moksha, Karma, Time, Arts, Dance, Yoga and Meditation, the Destroyer of Evil, Supreme Being in Shaivism
    Shiva has many aspects, benevolent as well as fearsome. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash. In his fierce aspects, he is often depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also known as Adiyogi Shiva, regarded as the patron god of dance, yoga, meditation and the arts. Shiva, it’s believed, used marijuana both to relax and to focus better for meditation. It’s scenes like this that made Kathmandu famous among hippies.

    The Dance of Shiva
    The two most common forms of Shiva’s dance are the Lasya (the gentle form of dance), associated with the creation of the world, and the Ananda Tandava (dance of bliss, the vigorous form of dance), associated with the destruction of weary worldviews—weary perspectives and lifestyles.

  10. Igud Fuhnow Avatar
    Igud Fuhnow

    Comedy Fest back with a bang.

    Effective Wednesday, The Most Honourable Senator Dr Jerome Walcott, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, and Senior Minister for coordinating Social Sectors and Environmental Policy, will be Minister of Health and Wellness, replacing Ian Gooding-Edghill. Walcott was a former Minister of Health under the Owen Arthur administration.
    The Prime Minister said Walcott, a surgeon, had been a Trojan for the party in his position of general secretary, had achieved great things in the health care sector and would be expected to continue in that vein as the new minister.

    It’s a good thing I have a poor memory.
    https://barbadosunderground.net/2007/08/21/dr-jerome-walcott-is-the-ship-sinking/

  11. Igud Fuhnow Avatar
    Igud Fuhnow

    The buck stops at the Minister because she is the boss and either she or one of her underlings put diesel in the gas tanks. I get that.
    Now pray tell why that same principle doesn’t apply to the Minister’s boss?

    No one really expects anyone to resign.
    Republics de plantain don’t really operate that way.

  12. David Avatar
    David

    The blogmaster indicated in this blog what is happening in Britain is interesting because of the culture which sees prime ministers and ministers routinely resigning, in Barbados we never developed the same culture. Did Stuart resign when his speaker of the house had to be ordered by the court to pay an old man his money? In fact he was dismissive.

  13. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    same nasty old faces is not fresh guard, it’s rearranging the same crimes committed against the people for the last hundred years…..into NEW CRIMINAL OPPORTUNITIES..

    using the pedophile sex survey as a cover to lure and push sugar plantation slavery on those they reduced socially and financially in the last 100 years so that a greedy, lazy subspecies of minorities can live off Afrikan lives is seen as exactly what it is……cahn cover dat up with anything…

    using the latest parliament freak show SCANDAL in the last few days to cover up the pedophile sex survey is seen for EXACTLY WHAT IT IS……that information is spreading everywhere like wildfire in REAL MEDIA….let the whole world know that’s exactly who they are….WITH THEIR FRAUDULENT ways….and both crimes are now tied together on social media…

    none of them have any ethics, morals, principles or ancestral respect, they don’t know the meaning of it…there are NOTHING, no good and NOBODIES…they have NO RESPECT for Afrikan parents, children, women, OR MEN, never did, always have been disrespectful to Afrikans once they acquired a colonial slave title.

    No matter how they pretend otherwise, even their visual presence gives off an evil TOXIC STENCH…that now have intelligent people feeling to retch…the only people find any of this cute or continue to promote this evil are their fowls and pimps.

  14. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    “The way politics is practiced in Britain ministers of government will resign if thought to be failing by civil society….”

    LMFAO!

  15. Stalwart Avatar
    Stalwart

    Good last question. Maybe our PM could answer that one. I am sure everyone remembers how she totally disregarded all the tenets related to the doctrine of the separation of powers and inserted herself into a matter that would be rightly condemned in any civilised society.

  16. Stalwart Avatar
    Stalwart

    It is in the public record that MAM said all big works have to come through her. Would the IDB “pretext” be considered “big work”?

  17. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    “This article by Peter Laurie cuts through the BS.”

    By now some should realize that the blogmaster like ‘authority figures’.

    Essentially Peter Laurie rehashes the same BS. He puts a new spin on some of the items but adds nothing new. His suggestion that the buck should stop at the Min of Ed bear no relationship to how things are done in Barbados and by Mia.

    TheO’s: same old BS in a new wrapper. Not buying it.

  18. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    “has Barbados become a ghetto country?

    This has been discuss numerous times.

    We are clearly in ducks guts when

    a Ministry can oversee law breaking (Data Protection Act) and NO ONE be held to account
    a Minister/Commission can openly support the lone utility company IN THE MIDDLE of a hearing and also publicly criticise the public for asking questions and standing for their rights
    we can have 5 and 3 murders in ONE day despite having 2 Deputies, 1 Commissioner, 1 adviser and now one Minister of State

    And there is much much much more that’s more suited for a separate thread.

    Those who know know. The sitting PM has a long coat tail and along history. This is what our leadership looks like.

    Because of a desire for politics and power Donald Trump came to be
    Because of a desire for politics and power Herschell WAlker may very well win
    Because of a desire for politics and power Bajan elections were held in January

    Because of a desire for politics and power we will reap what we sow in time to come. The chickens have already started coming home.
    Just observing.

  19. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    First of all, Laurie is not a lawyer, he is a product of the same disgusting system..

    some people have no close up and personal relationship with independent thinking…..that’s why attacks are enabled at directed against those who display these attributes of thinking rationally and critically for themselves.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    Steuspe

  21. David Avatar
    David

    @Enuff

    You are aware unlike others commenting on the blog is not easily distracted. He has been around long enough to observe pro DLP supporters doing what you are attempting now.

  22. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    “In our system of government like Peter Laurie confirmed the buck stops with the minister in the matter being prosecuted”

    *** Because he says so means that it is so? We have a PM who indicated that she is the center of power and focal point of anything big. Here we have a big mess-up and suddenly the buck only stops at the Min Of Ed.

    There is truth in the expression ‘shit flow downwards’. What’s next? the Min of Ed finds a poor sacrificial lamb for us?

    “Mia will NOT resign over this matter, the people must go for wins that are achievable. Ministers don’t resign in Barbados far less prime ministers.”

    ****I agree that Mia will not resing in this matter, but I dislike the message being given here .

    Since Mia will not resign, we should settle for a lower scalp (the easier win). Does it follow that since the Min of Ed will not resign we should move down to the next lower scalp?

    When do we stop? At some unfortunate teacher or principal? Should we grab a parent and accuse him/her of inadequately supervising their child?

    What is advocated is not a strategy to follow. It is a path of convenient politics. It is the easy path.

    A few days ago a lawyer was against a court case because it would be inconvenient. The easy way is all we know.

  23. David Avatar
    David

    @Enuff

    Who uttered the below statement?

    “Finally, the Prime Minister said that world leaders must have mature conversations and speak to their people instead of relying on headlines and soundbites, to avoid a disconnect between the government and the governed.

    “With those commitments, we can make a difference in this world and let us do so recognizing that a world that reflects an imperialistic order, hypocrisy and lack of transparency will not achieve that mission, but one that gives us freedom transparency and levelled playing field will allow for a difference”.

  24. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    To be honest…
    I think the cut should be at the Min of Ed level and not at Mia’s level.

    What I resent are the false arguments that will give Mia absolute immunity.

  25. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    “When do we stop? At some unfortunate teacher or principal? Should we grab a parent and accuse him/her of inadequately supervising their child?”

    and that’s EXACTLY why i said the principals and teachers who were disrespectfully MISUSED need to cover themselves with good legal advice before they are scapegoated with liars and deceivers now trying a CYA..

    AND

    why more PROPER legal advice is needed at the international level to take this pedophile sex survey and violation of children’s and parent’s human rights EVEN FURTHER…

  26. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    “has Barbados become a ghetto country?”

    with ghetto rats at the very top for the last 100 years, it’s easy to read those tea leaves..

  27. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    With a spineless set of ministers, it is easier to shift chairs around on the deck of the Titanic than to change our direction or to tackle the real issues confronting us.

    The person who does the printing for GoRoB is probably making a killing as these changes probably requires new letter heads. That is the only real change there is.

  28. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Also, I concede that the blog master makes a good point when he mentions our culture.

    Conclusion: A mix. Some valid points, but overall message needed tweaking.

  29. Igud Fuhnow Avatar
    Igud Fuhnow

    Who uttered the below statement?

    Sometimes we say things that we don’t really mean.
    Sometimes we say things and forgot we ever them.
    Sometimes we say things that we think others want to hear.
    Sometimes people give us a sheet of paper, we just read the words on said paper.
    Sometimes we get drunk and talk nuff sweet-sounding shite and make nuff promises, but we don’t expect people to hold us to our words the next day.

    I mean, like seriously?
    Next question.

  30. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    David
    You are clutching! What makes your comments like “ghetto country” look even worse is the fact that you’ve referenced the UK parliament in the same space. I had to visit Google to make sure my memory wasn’t failing me. You’re starting to sound like de Salemite.

  31. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    If Mia has not acknowledged IN ANY WAY the wrong that has been done to our children by this sneaky survey, then she is not fit to be my prime minister.

    This is a clear cut case of our most vulnerable having their right to privacy violated by our Government. It matters not at which level the foul up occurred or whether or not it was deliberate.

    You cannot expect to ignore that the rights of children and parents have been trampled upon by their Government.

    Mental and emotional harm is sometimes more difficult to heal than physical harm.

    This was a mental and emotional strip search.

    Some of these AMBUSHED children may be worrying who is reading what they wrote and what they intend to do with that knowledge.

    It is unfortunate that parents have raised children too afraid to have ripped the bloody survey up as I would have done. These parents must now set about correcting that.

    IF IT FEELS LIKE A VIOLATION, IT PROBABLY IS. DO NOT SUBMIT! CALL YOUR PARENTS!

    I am surprised that this was, perhaps, the third round of the sneaky survey.

    Rise up, you parents! Demand justice and accountability!

    However, when you march, make it only about the matter at hand – the Sneaky Survey or Emotional Strip Search, and not about LBGTQ+ or CSE in schools.

  32. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    Why would the supreme leader address the matter of the survey when:
    1 – She CLEARLY is the one who initiated, or at least initially approved, the survey
    2 – She probably over-ruled anyone in the ministry who objected initially, and there is probably proof of this…
    3 – She has NO IDEA of what is is to be a parent – and so probably don’t get the outrage
    4 – Like all despots, she has come to believe her own rhetoric – and that of her mindless minions…thinking that she is above reproach.

    To deflect, she has attempted to change the conversation to ‘cabinet changes’ which involve shuffling a bunch of losers around the same damn table.
    What difference does it make when SHE will dictate and micro manage the figurehead jokers anyway?

    What a damned place….

  33. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    “4 – Like all despots, she has come to believe her own rhetoric – and that of her mindless minions…thinking that she is above reproach.”

    that’s why we have to be very circumspect moving forward, because it’s very clear that many STILL HAVE NO CLUE what is really going on…..the weakest links.

  34. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    FIRING LINE: The silence is silly

    By Shantal Munro-Knight | Sun, June 23, 2013 – 12:00 AM
    I am not sure who is advising the current administration or perhaps who are the listened-to people who have the ear of those in leadership but if I knew who they were, I would tell them that they are not worthy to advise my nine-year-old. I would not hire them for anything, not even to read me instructions from a recipe book.
    I find the ongoing approach to public engagement by this Government silly, offensive, and it smacks of a lack of understanding of the Barbadian public. It is untenable!

    Is this the same person who is now a minister ? Fortunately for her , according to the quote, her son is now twenty two and would have escaped the test.
    And we continue to be fooled by the BLPDLP.
    More to come
    Peace.

  35. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    Skinnerisms isms and schisms and rhetorical drama lika a gay diva

    ‘ I would tell them that they are not worthy to advise my nine-year-old. ‘

    you don’t have a 9 year old as you are too old

  36. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    “ACCORDING TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION SLAVERY WAS NEVER ABOLISHED…IT WAS SIMPLY RE-WORDED!”

    since the white world have finally publicly acknowledged what many of us have known from since we were children, that slavery never ended, was never abolished, many of us still here, are now in our 60s, 70s, 80s,,,and understand everything so much better as the decades passed….

    just don’t expect the slaves, fowls, imps, pimps, the weakest links and minions/supporters/voters of dangerous Judas politicians to understand any of this…

  37. David Avatar
    David

    @enuff

    Are you aware that this is how many young people are referring to Barbados as we lurch from crisis to crisis, muck up to muck up? Don’t shoot the messenger please.

  38. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    If what you opined is true then it is all the more reason for the Minister to resign.

  39. David Avatar
    David

    @Kiki

    Sometimes it is better to keep quiet.

  40. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    BushTea
    Yuh joined Jezebel Baird et al yesterday on the march?

  41. David Avatar
    David

    @Enuff

    One of the organizers was Ferdinand Nicholls, he use to operate from the bowels of the BLP not too long ago.

  42. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    David
    Aren’t you the same one who few days ago inferred that it was not only about what the young think? Or their views only matter when it supports your position? The fact is that MPs are accused, some charged and locked up, of “ungentlemanly” behaviour all over the world including the UK, Canada and USA. I guess we’re all ghetto country.

  43. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Well! I didn’t read Laurie before I commented before but now that I have, I see that he his opinion and mine are EXACTLY the same.

    I thank him for adding the full context of the survey, which I never believed was given for nefarious purposes.

    This does not in any way absolve our Government for the manner in which this survey was administered.

    Laurie should not be the one providing context. Parents should have been called in to discuss BEFOREHAND. CONSENT should have been sought IN WRITING. Children should have been prepared and counselled by professionals. And yes, so many emotional questions could have been draining or overwhelming for children of that age. We should remember that these questions would have caused children with issues not only to think but also to stirr up the FEELINGS, all the negative emotions they would experience when in the actual situation. Feelings they may have worked to suppress.

    Therefore, follow up sessions by professionals should also have been conducted.

    This was a huge foul up!.

  44. David Avatar
    David

    @Enuff

    What is being done by this government to enable actors in civil society to address change to undesirable behaviours negatively impacting Barbados society. Enough of the political palaver. We have reached a dangerous place.

  45. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    TypOs!

  46. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    Earlier she spoke about education reform and noted that as far as the Common Entrance Exam was concerned and whether it would be kept or not, a proposal was before Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.
    Move to secondary school
    “I will say to you that what we will do to help
    move children from primary to secondary right now – the only thing we have is the Common Entrance Exam, that is the way for you to move from one level to the next. However, there is consideration being given as to what else we can do and I’m not being cagey, I’m being very straight with you.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    WAY TOO BACKWARD ON THE 2 X 3 ISLAND.

    THE WHITE PEOPLE WHO INTRODUCED THE 11+ AND COMMON ENTRANCE EXAMS GOT RID BECAUSE THEY SAW THE DAMAGE WAS DOING TO THEIR SOCIETY IN THE UK AND WAS FOR CHILDREN TRYING TO GET INTO BOARDING SCHOOLS OR ELITIST SCHOOLS.

    YET THE FOOLISH BLACKS CAN’T SEEM TO THINK FOR THEMSELVES CREATIVELY WHILST MAKING EVERY EXCUSE FOR REMAINING A SET OF BACKWARD THINKERS.

    NO WONDER THE SOCIETY FOR BLACKS ON THE 2X3 ISLAND REMAIN BROKEN ON THE 2 X 3 ISLAND.

    As Britain’s oldest examination, Common Entrance was introduced in the early 1900s to test 12-13-year olds who wanted to study at top UK boarding schools such as Eton College and Harrow School. Back in February of this year, UK Study Centre reported that some schools had already made the decision to phase out these ageing exams.

    https://www.ukstudycentre.co.uk/blog/common-entrance-exams-officially-phased-uk-prep-school-curriculums/

    The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academic selection. The name derives from the age group for secondary entry: 11–12 years.

    The eleven-plus was once used throughout England and Wales, but is now only used in counties and boroughs in England that offer selective schools instead of comprehensive schools. Also known as the transfer test, it is especially associated with the Tripartite System which was in use from 1944 until it was phased out across most of the UK by 1976.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleven-plus

  47. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved Avatar
    African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights Reserved

    William…given certain information made available in the reveal, we can appreciate what must now be done moving forward. I am sure both you and Pacha are seeing ahead quite clearly. I already threw some nuggets out there where it will jump start action….

    ..the good news, there is now an UNBEATABLE and more positive force in play, the negative can never prevail in this new environment…

  48. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    If the march had been organised by victimised parents and had stuck to the issues of the sneaky survey, I would have attended. I am not marching with any opportunistic political party or bigoted church.

    I want to see the parents stand up and demand accountability.

    If the Government invades the legally protected privacy of its citizens, the Government must answer. The Government is not above the law.

    Is the Government entitled to extract and document our innermost thoughts and feelings under duress?

    I suggest that administering this survey to eleven year olds on school premises, during school hours pressures or coerces them into complying.

    DOAN MIND DAT DONNA WOULD HAVE TORN UP THE DAMN SURVEY.

    Most children would have felt that they could not refuse.

  49. David Avatar
    David

    @Donna

    The issue as you well know is that the average Barbadian is not of that mindset. It is the church and political parties who have historically marched to push their agenda.

    For any protest to be successful it must be anchored in a cause that is just. Against this belief the blogmaster agrees with your position that sone of these protests is about addressing naked self interest.

  50. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Enuff
    BushTea
    Yuh joined Jezebel Baird et al yesterday on the march?
    ++++++++++
    I have no time for Baird but was she a Jezebel when she supported the Minister in his handling of the GIS issue then, or now that she is marching against the Gov’ts management of the IADB test?

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2022/04/15/investigations-find-no-evidence-of-abuse-at-gis/

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