Education Ministry addresses concerns over survey

The Ministry of Education is trying to allay concerns that it is invading the privacy of thousands of families, who have children at the primary school level. 

This follows the distribution of a registration form to parents and guardians.

Persons have been complaining that the forms are intrusive because of the personal details they require including the employment status of the head of each household, the income earned as well as parenting practices.

The Education Ministry says the information is to be used for more efficient planning, but parents are worried about the vulnerability of the data to theft or manipulation.

However Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education Grace McLean, is asserting that there are security procedures in place to ensure the information remains safe.

“That procedure that we would have in place is not something I can discuss in the public as we speak but I will tell you that we have discussed that and we also have procedures that we will put in place to guarantee the safety of the data,”

She added that where parents or guardians have a serious problem, they do not have to fill out all sections of the form.

 “If it's an issue we are asking out parents not to, or if it is going to be a major challenge and if you don’t think you can trust us enough to treat this information in a confidential manner and to use it to assist us in the development of the students in our school,” Ms McLean said.