Father claims discrimination after failed bid to register his son in primary school

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It appears to be a case of deja vu for Bernard Warner, who has again found himself at loggerheads with the principal of the Five Islands Primary School and the Ministry of Education.
Just last year, Warner, who heads the local disability association, was engaged in controversy with the school after it refused to accept his six-year-old daughter who was deemed a slow learner.
And this time around, Warner is claiming that the same school has stymied his attempts to register his five-year-old son.
Registration for new students entering Kindergarten officially opened on Monday for the new school year which begins in September. Warner said when he went to have his son registered, he was flatly refused.
According to him, the principal told him one of many things, including the fact that he does not reside in the Five Islands community.
“I went there. I was the sixth person in the line and while the principal and the teacher was giving out the application form, she openly said she isn’t going to register my child today because he doesn’t live in the community,” Warner recalled.
He said that to add insult to injury, the principal bypassed him and handed forms and pens to “every other parent except me”.
The policy of the Ministry of Education is that students who live in the community will be given first priority. The others (who are not from the community) will be accepted only if there are available spaces; but all applications must be accepted.
“I asked her why is it that you are picking me out of all the parents there. I think she was discriminating against me. I feel helpless in my own country,” Warner sobbed.
“Why can’t she just give me a break? All I want to do is register my child and go.”
Warner said he is contemplating legal action against the principal of the school for what he says appears to be wanton discrimination against his children.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)
 

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