Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter

After much public outcry surrounding the use of a textbook in the secondary school system, which states that homosexual unions may be considered a family type, the Ministry of Education has ordered that the controversial textbook be removed from the classroom.

A resolute Andrew Holness, Education Minister, told The Gleaner that he has instructed that the book be removed. "We have done so. We have asked them that the book not be used. That book is not recommended. We have given that instruction today," he stressed yesterday.

Mr. Holness also admitted to The Gleaner that the book was apparently being used in several schools. "The good thing that has come out of this is that the article (the story was first reported in The Gleaner) has alerted the ministry to this problem and we are taking action against it."

Additionally, the ministry has commissioned a full review of its approved textbooks. "We are reviewing all our books to ensure that they adhere to the moral view of the society.

"If we are going to have standard education right across the board, then it cannot be that we have several sources of information being presented," the minister reasoned.

Requisition

Also, Dr. Charlene Ashley, director of communications in the ministry, told our news team that the ministry has requisitioned that all books being used that are not on the approved list be submitted to its offices.

"A school bulletin will be issued to all schools, instructing them to submit to the ministry any book of which they are unsure and to further remind them of the approval process," she said.

While the ministry continues to deny that its officials endorsed the book, Gleaner checks have confirmed that the book was presented to teachers at a ministry-sponsored event held at its Caenwood Centre in late January, 2006. At least one school has said that the book came highly recommended at the workshop that was put on by the Home Economics Association and attended by officials from the Ministry.

In a telephone interview late yesterday from her home in St. Lucia, Norma Maynard, one of the authors of the book, said that they can do nothing about the Minister's decision.

"We cannot change his decision but the text is definitely not advocating any one type of family but simply presenting existing forms," said Mrs. Maynard

"It is unfortunate that only four sentences on page four in the text Home Economics CSEC and Beyond Management under the subheading family forms were used to label the total text as a gay book," she said in reference to an article published by a media house yesterday.

"We are staunch practicing Catholics so whatever other thing people might have in their mind they can use that to get a position from where we are coming from."

At the same time, the book that was published in 2004 has been doing well on the local market. Since the Ministry-sponsored workshop and the alleged endorsement the book has seen a tremendous increase in sales with some book stores reporting a near 90 per cent hike in sales from 2005.

A representative from a prominent bookshop told our news team that only one copy of the book was in stock.

The bookstore, which is the local representative for Macmillan Caribbean which is a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited that published the book, said the books have been on the market for about two years and are widely available in all bookshops.

Nicolas Gillard, publisher with Macmillan Caribbean, confirmed that the book has been a hit. "I don't have the precise sales figures with me right now but the book has been well received and generally regarded as meeting the needs of the curriculum and the syllabus," said Mr. Gillard.

He added: "They certainly are popular with teachers and home economists but it is not on the Ministry approved reading list because it missed the review cycle."

Mr. Gillard explained that the authors were not promoting or endorsing same sex unions, they just made an objective statement of fact.

On Wednesday, The Gleaner broke news that several secondary school teachers were currently caught in a bind trying to explain homosexual unions as a viable family option as presented in the textbook teachers said was recommended by the Ministry of Education.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com

Chronology of events

Monday, October 29, 2007:

Our news team visited a school where the book was being used. We talked with the vice-principals, who requested a day to do investigations into the allegation that same-sex unions were being taught as an acceptable family type.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007:

The news team visited the school again and got the results of the investigation. Back in office, we attempted to contact Jasper Lawrence, chief education officer in the Ministry of Education. First, we attempted to contact Mr. Lawrence on his mobile phone. That was unsuccessful. We then made some calls to his office at the ministry, but did not get to speak with him.

However, a female employee told us to contact Salome Evring, deputy chief education officer, at 948-7938.

Calls to Mrs. Evring were not returned. Initially, our news team was told that she was out of office. When we called again, an employee told us that Mrs. Evring was on the building but she was away from her desk.

Our news team then called back Mr. Lawrence's office at the ministry asking to speak with him, explaining that we were unable to get through to Mrs. Evring. But, again we were unsuccessful.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007:

The story was published.