ALTHOUGH the Education Ministry agreed to special arrangements for a boy who is dyslexic and who is taking the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exams in April, his father has filed an injunction requesting an aide to assist with his preparation.
The injunction application was filed on March 21 by attorneys for the boy’s father, and a hearing was set for March 25 before Justice Westmin James.
With the exam roughly two weeks away, the father is challenging the “continuing failure of the State,” to provide an aide.
In an affidavit in support of the application, the man said after his son received an aide in standard three and the first term of standard four, his work improved and there was a change in his behaviour and mood.
From being frustrated and not wanting to go to school because he felt he was not “bright,” the man said his son was happier than he had ever seen him.
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He said when the aide was taken from his son at the start of the second term of standard four, the family kept asking about a replacement but was told none was available.
Since January, the family has been unsuccessfully appealing to the ministry to approve the application for an aide. Reasons given by the ministry for denying the request included inadequate supporting documents or updated psycho-educational assessments.
On March 17, Chief Education Officer Dr Peter Smith, in response to a pre-action letter, said the ministry would arrange a special room for the child and give him extended time for the SEA exam on April 10.
But, the father said the letter did not say if an aide would be provided to help his son prepare or sit with him during the exam.
“It is the most helpless feeling to see your child made to go through an experience such as this,” the man said in his affidavit. Attorneys Gerald Ramdeen, Dayadai Harripaul and Emily Rampersad are representing the boy’s father.
