Tag Archives: Education

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children.” Nelson Mandela, May 1995. Ezekiel Ramdialsingh’s murder on 15 April received wide coverage in our newspapers. One even had it as a front-page story. But the description given to him was “an aspiring …

I do not believe that the Dragon Field initiative is dead. The rumours of its end are greatly exaggerated. For context, I advance this quotation from the influential US Politico newsletter. It was written about the tariff situation of last week, but it can easily fit our situation. “He likes …

Within a week, the prime minister-designate, Stuart Young, will assume the role of the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Ferdie Ferreira, a long-time People’s National Movement (PNM) stalwart, said the PNM has never had a succession plan in its 68-year history. He made this comment when there was dissent …

The Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Appeals Committee reached a unanimous decision regarding St Benedict’s College’s registration of team captain and star forward Derrel “Zoom Zoom” Garcia. And it has found in favour of the Disciplinary Committee. “The Appeals Committee unanimously agrees that St Benedict’s College failed to present sufficient …

Seeing a big picture requires a lens shaped by multiple streams of information. If you live within the confines of a cave, everything you know is defined by its walls. Not so? It follows that how you respond to events is determined by the knowledge that you have to work …

“[…] Our deepest issue is the inequality of our education system. Despite calls for reform, we’re stuck with a system that often doesn’t prepare young people for a changing world. “The prestige schools have better facilities, better managed teachers, and more opportunities compared to schools in rural or poor areas. …

Only a complete ignoramus! Or the kind of blindness that will not see! Tell me, how could even one person in Trinidad and Tobago actually entertain the thought that Aldwyn “Kitchener” Roberts might have been capable of such an abomination? Oh, what a country! In the days when Guy Harewood …

With great dismay last Tuesday, I read the lamentation of three government ministers concerning the state of crime in Trinidad & Tobago and the incidence of drug use amongst youths. One of them, Minister Camille Robinson-Regis, felt “helplessness” in the face of violence. The obvious response is to invite her …

Bring back the old-time days… Do you remember the primary school days when we sat in the dusty school yard under the tambrand, tree, the downs tree, the immortelle tree, the padoo tree, or whatever tree that was in the yard while teacher Percy preached hellfire and brimstone and brought …

In the late 1990s, in response to one of my weekly columns, retired Professor Emeritus Desmond Imbert called me. It was the beginning of a rather odd friendship that went on for years—when he died in 2010, we had still never met in person. Communication was always at his instigation, …

“In a great country like ours, we should aspire for every child to grow up to achieve his or her full potential. Anything less is a waste of talent and a blemish on human dignity and flourishing.” Mike Petrilli (Fordham Institute), 2023. In April 2009, our country hosted President Barack …

The Junior Panorama took place last Sunday. It is the Carnival event I most enjoy.  This year, my annual attendance was seasoned by an insightful statement from a member of the current government, whose communication is regularly that of deny, deflect and denigrate. The phrase that headlines this column is …