Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw said that the Ministry of Education is not taking God out of the schools.
“I want to make it absolutely clear the Ministry of Education is not taking God out of schools. If you look at the circular that I saw circulating as well in the public forum, that circular was addressed to principals. It was intended for principals because we had a number of meetings prior to distribution of the circular which outlined how the sessions will go during the morning periods,” she said.
Her remarks came today after a circular addressed to all principals was circulated on social media. The post has attracted many comments, with a number of people expressing concern about God being removed from the school environment.
She was speaking following a service of blessings at Queen’s College after the school was used as an isolation facility during the spike in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases. The Husbands, St James campus was decommissioned and handed over to the Ministry of Education last December.
Archer-Bradshaw said the intention was that instead of general assembly being held, mindfulness sessions would now be held.
“We said students would come into the classroom and we will interact with them, because many of them have suffered loss. We understand that, so we want to hear from them and be able to guide them accordingly to talk about love, compassion and having understanding for the situation,” she said. (RA)
It\\\’s not the Government\\\’s job to retain God in Schools,
that\\\’s called \\\’State propaganda\\\’. It\\\’s not the State\\\’s job to indoctrinate children; religion is a personal matter.
Is God such a weakling that he needs \\\’State power\\\’ to
keep himself relevant? We need to stop this nonsense.
Truth is Bajans need to get away from the idea that if you are not praying then you are going to do bad. That is a myth.
Next, the school is not a place for children to go to pray. If you are a religious person, have your child pray before leaving home. The problem with having this done at schools, is that you are forcing children who are not Christians to follow Christian practices.
Christian has been pasted on to us by enslavement and colonialism. It is as much a part of our culture as wiping or children and in some cases our spouses. It’s is really a personal choice for those who think they need to hold on to it, but Christian don’t get to tell everyone else what religious practice is best for their children. Stop being religious bullies.
And what is mindfulness? When a person goes through any type of loss, the best thing is for that person to know that they can reach out to God. General assembly is one of those ways. Prayer ,reading the word of God and spiritual songs are the best way to deal with that loss, not mindfulness. Barbados seems to be going in the wrong direction. The word of God stills says, that righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people. The word of God also says that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
Plain and simple. We do not want anyone to take General assembly out of our schools. Now nor ever. First God then your \\\’mindfulness\\\’ as you put it.
Plain and simple. We do not want anyone to take General assembly out of our schools. Now nor ever. First God then your \\\’mindfulness\\\’ as you put it.