EDITOR, The Tribune.
Open letter to Minister Jeffrey Lloyd
Dear Minister Lloyd:
I write to congratulate you on your bold and determined move to protect the sacred principle that all children are entitled to an education, regardless of their background or ethnic origin. This principle, enshrined in both our Constitution and Education Act, is also a cornerstone of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child, an agreement which the Bahamas has ratified and subsequently reinforced in our own Statute law with the passing of the Child Protection Act (2006).
Indeed, around the world today, in all but the most repressive and anti-democratic regimes, education is regarded not as a privilege, but as a fundamental human right that must be legally guaranteed for all without regard to circumstantial factors. States are understood to have an obligation to protect, respect, and fulfil the right to education and should be held accountable for any violations or deprivations of this right.
Unfortunately, over the past few years in our country, this principle was turned on its head. The forces of darkness and discrimination sought to deny the children of foreign born parents access to their fundamental right to learning, justifying the persecution of innocent minors with the atavistic logic of racism, division and hate. For a time, on the watch of Messrs Mitchell and Fitzgerald, this calamitous vision held sway over our precious Bahamaland, and the full extent of the suffering, fear and emotional distress experienced by young people and their parents as a result will probably never be known.
Thankfully, it would seem that a new day has dawned for education in The Bahamas and with it, a new cause for hope for the future of our young people.
As human rights defenders, our primary goal is to combat the forces of discrimination, hatred and xenophobia while defending the fundamental rights enshrined in the Bahamas Constitution. Rights Bahamas could not be pleased with your decision or more heartened by the knowledge that the stewardship of our young people is in the hands of such a dedicated and courageous defender of their wellbeing.
As always, our team is available at your convenience to discuss this matter or any other issue pertaining to human rights, children’s rights or rule of law in The Bahamas.
JOSEPH DARVILLE
Vice president
Rights Bahamas
May 8, 2018.
Comments
sheeprunner12 6 years, 7 months ago
Is Old Joe Darville more concerned about non-Bahamians having access to these third-rate public schools as they presently exist????? OR ........ should he be more concerned about agitating for an improvement in the QUALITY of education that Lloyd presently oversees as Minister???? ........... Old Joe is barking up the wrong gum tree.
NOTE:.......... It is the immigrants who have created this distressed situation for the majority of ALL children in the public school system. And who really capitalizes on the Bahamian "free education"????????
Should we continue to rob Pierre to pay Pablo????....... Who looks out for Johnny??????
Porcupine 6 years, 7 months ago
"It is the immigrants who have created this distressed situation......" I disagree. I think the lack of emphasis on education, still evident today, has caught up with us. The so-called immigrants, which we all are in one form or another over time, really had little to do with it. We have treated education as something to be funded after all the other "important" things have been taken care of. Education, if we valued it, would be first on the list of priorities. If you want the best talent, you pay for it. Have we ever done that with teachers? EVER? So, I think Mr. Darville is right. Once everyone is properly and well-educated, the problems of the world start to disappear. Teenage pregnancy goes down, hence less "burden" on our school. We can quickly learn that our politicians are screwing us and we hang them. War ends because the basis of the hate, ignorance, disappears. We prosper as a planet. I agree with Mr. Darville.
ohdrap4 6 years, 7 months ago
In the Bahamas, all ills have been caused by foreigners and their descendants.
Therefore, let's deport all according to their principal dna profile..
The one lucayan left will be the learned QC.
joeblow 6 years, 7 months ago
The argument about us all being immigrants is illogical, because we have all settled in places other than where life originated in Africa. But we live in a world of laws and countries have laws to determine who has a right to come and go within a country's borders.
Our focus should have been on repatriating illegals WITH their children as soon as possible to avoid the problems we have now. And so while illegals created their own communities and separate economies the Bahamian government borrows money to 'take care of them' while placing the burden on the shrinking middle class. It is the Bahamian taxpayer who educates, immunizes and takes care of the children of illegals, and I for one don't want my money being spent that way!
sheeprunner12 6 years, 7 months ago
Exactly ......... as the middle and upper class children leave for "greener pastures" aka brain drain ....... We are forced to subsidize education and social welfare for the underclass immigrants and the lower classes of our society .......... That is what has happened in the past 30 years ....... and on top of that, the entitled 10% social elite still owes the Treasury $150 million for student loans ......... Then you wonder about our educational conundrum??????
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