Diallo Rabain must quit as minister of education after a video emerged of him attempting to deny information to parents in St George’s regarding school closure plans, the Opposition has said.

Ben Smith, the Shadow Minister of Education, and the One Bermuda Alliance’s Senate Leader, accused Mr Rabain of being caught out ignoring the concerns of parents and teachers and refusing to listen to them.

The resignation call follows a video being made public of the minister strategising with Philip Butterfield, co-chairman of the education governance committee, in which Mr Rabain states that information should be kept from parents battling to keep St George’s Preparatory School open.

The clip, recorded last April, sees the two men appearing to agree that parents at the school, an aided learning establishment being closed as part of the Government’s reform plans, “aren’t going to be in the mix” when school policies are finalised.

Mr Smith said: “When I first saw the video that has circulated with the Minister of Education, I felt it was important to wait for context before commenting.

“However, now that the minister has clarified his position, he exposed a continual trend that the public is seeing — he refuses to listen to parents and teachers regarding impending school closures; ask anyone who is a part of the West End and East End primary school communities.

“It is time for minister Rabain to do the honourable thing and resign.

“This video seems to indicate that the input and opinions of some parents and schools is not accepted by the minister. If the minister feels challenged by their questions and their need for data, this is a problem.

“Many families’ lives will be changing with the school closures and they have every right to demand clarity.

“Ignoring the people who challenge the decisions that are taken is not a sustainable solution.

“Families are frustrated. Yet again it feels like the needs of our students are not being prioritised and the voices of distrust are growing louder.

“The minister needs to communicate openly by listening and helping the parents and teachers to understand the decisions that are being taken.

“The Ministry of Education needs to be open to ideas that may be different than the plan it’s pursuing.

“And if the minister isn’t willing to listen to his stakeholders, it is time to have one who will.”

A concerned parent fighting to keep St George’s Prep open described the minister’s remarks as “defensive and horrific“.

Mr Rabain attempted to play down his comments, saying they had been taken out of context.

He said the clip was a “debrief” after a 2½-hour meeting about a planned Education Authority.

He apologised to parents for any “confusion” and added that he had no intention of resigning over the matter.

Mr Rabain can be heard in the video telling Mr Butterfield: “Be wary of St George’s Prep, right.”

After the reform plans were announced in 2020, members of the St George’s community, including PTA executive committees, produced an alternative proposal to the closure of St George’s Prep among other plans.

Mr Rabain added: “Every meeting that we have had with them, whether it’s been this, whether it’s been parish primary schools, whether it’s been anything else, they always come back and say ‘we want your research so that we can deconstruct it’.

“They always say that, ‘we want the research so that we can come back …’ and if you have ever seen the presentation they made for the parish primary schools, that’s where they started, ‘well, we haven’t seen the research, so, basically, how do we know that what you are saying even has been tabulated properly, has been looked at correctly?’

“And so we are not going to give them that opportunity to second guess like that.

Mr Butterfield responds by saying: “Minister, the reality is that, at the end of the day, they aren’t going to be in the mix.”

The minister replies: “Yes.”

The Royal Gazette has asked the Government if David Burt retains full confidence in the Minister of Education.