By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER Cabinet Minister wants officials with oversight of Junior Junkanoo to enforce penalties to discourage vulgarity from parade participants.

Cynthia “Mother” Pratt, who was Deputy Prime Minister under the first Christie administration, said she was appalled at the number of high school girls who were nearly naked and dancing distastefully at the parade on Saturday.

She wants the junior groups to have their scores heavily reduced at the instance of such behaviour or face disqualification if students are not willing to comply with standards governing how they conduct themselves.

“I was very concerned,” Mrs Pratt said, “with the number of little girls that had their breasts hanging out and doing all sorts of disgraceful dancing. There ought not to be this kind of behaviour from school aged children. What message are they sending? And what message are we sending in allowing them to act in this way and then at the end of the day we reward them.

“There needs to be a certain dress code and a standard enforced for how they are allowed to dress and carry themselves. And this slackness was transmitted across the country because the camera men seemed to focus only on these teen aged girls. “

Comparing high schools, Mrs Pratt praised participants from the family islands which she said displayed a certain calibre of behaviour which she described as tasteful and well put together.

“I mean when I looked at those girls from C R Walker, I just couldn’t believe what they were allowed to do. It was totally different from the ones that came from Spanish Wells.”

On Saturday, hundreds of students from throughout the country gathered at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium to participate in Junior Junkanoo, which saw the C R Walker Knights claim the first place title. Spanish Wells All Age School placed second, followed by South Andros School, third, Harbour Island All Age School, fourth, and St John’s College fifth.