After raising the ire of locals, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has apologized for administering a survey with “disturbing” questions to 11-year-olds.
The survey which was formulated by an organization called code.org was presented as a pre-test on Computer Science. It was distributed to Form One students in secondary schools across the island.
Reports from a Barbadian media house earlier today, October 5, stated that students were questioned about their gender identity, sexuality and suicidal thoughts and depression. This led outraged parents interviewed to describe the survey as invasive and disturbing. More disturbing to some was that the minors were asked to write their names on the paper.
In a statement released tonight, the IDB said “no offense was intended”.
“The Inter-American Development Bank regrets that a Bank-administered survey of children in the Barbados secondary school system has offended many Barbadians. The bank sincerely apologizes, but emphasizes that no offense was intended,” the organization said.
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The IDB also admitted that it has now followed the advice of the Ministry of Education and removed controversial questions from the survey. However, they admitted that this ministerial requirement was left out and the questions were “inadvertently left in the paper” before administering it locally. “The IDB recognizes its position as a development partner with the Government of Barbados, with a longstanding and mutually respectful relationship, and assures Barbados that it would not intentionally engage in any practice that would damage that relationship,” the statement continued.
According to an online report from November 2020, the IDB partnered with the non-profit organization code.org to conduct the regional assessment in the Caribbean due to the project’s size and target population.
