Until David Rudder came along to fill our hearts and minds with his inspirational repertoire, Ah Fraid Karl ranked up there with the best. And Ah Put on Mih Guns Again was among my top dozen favourite calypsoes. So having long recognised his worth as a calypsonian, I have no …
Read More »Noble: We’re witnessing governance crisis on education, POS reform and Venezuelan migration
“We will never bring disgrace to this, our city, by any act of dishonesty or cowardice, nor ever desert our suffering comrades in the ranks. We will fight for the ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone and with many. “We will revere and obey the city’s laws …
Read More »Media Monitor: Chalkdust’s embarrassing offering on education in the age of smart boards and laptops.
Education kills … by degrees! That graffito leapt off the walls of the London Underground at me about half a century ago. And stayed with me. Last weekend’s Sunday Express brought it back to the front of my mind. And reminded me as well of this idea, long espoused by …
Read More »Demming: Should taxpayers fund tertiary education? What is government’s role?
The following column is based on the author’s participation in the online forum by the Trade and Economic Division of the Department of Economics, the University of the West Indies, St Augustine on the topic The Funding of Tertiary Level Education in Trinidad and Tobago: My favourite quote about education …
Read More »Daly Bread: Patriotic manoeuvres on energy and education
Not for the first time, I wondered last week about the coherence of some of the government’s objectives. I noted that the chairman of the committee on community recovery gave an empathetic update on its work so far, but I wondered again whether that empathy would be shared by those …
Read More »Daly Bread: Disconnections and loose ends; making education our ‘great equaliser’
I paid more detailed attention to the Budget debates this year because our country is so down. The Opposition had little fresh content to offer. Most contributions represented attempts to fight over the General Election, which it lost nine weeks ago. The Opposition is so bazodee that, despite its recent …
Read More »Virtual lessons in the time of Covid-19: Day in the life of a school teacher
“[…] Tutors face many challenges in this pandemic era that they possibly were not prepared for at teaching college. Most students are technologically savvy, and in the age of memes and TikTok, teachers are at risk of being ridiculed…” Today Wired868 features a secondary school visual arts teacher with more …
Read More »Daly Bread: Bake, dumpling, cereal and banking czars—a people out of touch
As a small boy, I grew up knowing that my single parent mother was in a sou sou. Many decades later I have lived to read that the current governor of the Central Bank was surprised to learn of the extent of the practice of sou sou. The czars of …
Read More »Dear Editor: T&T’s bureaucratic education system doesn’t reward success or punish failure
“[…] Public Education is the only industry we have in which if you do a good job, nothing good happens; and if you do a bad job nothing bad happens to you. If we do not change this fact, we will not get better schools…” The following letter to the …
Read More »Hotep: The ‘powers that be’ need you to blame Morvant—to hide their own crimes against the people
“[…] How many business people can write an honest account explaining their rags to riches story, or share a history that can serve as a roadmap for others? “If any of them opt for the challenge they would have to omit the bribes and protection money they pay, the tax …
Read More »Keita: Trinidad’s crime problem isn’t down to bad seeds—it is bad soil
For five consecutive years, I taught a youth program where the underlying theme was to teach young people to bloom where they were planted. It was about teaching them to use the resources in their environment to be their best selves. I stopped teaching that program when it became abundantly …
Read More »Noble: The Nobodies; ‘invisible to all, scorned by all’—Morvant vs the world
Last Saturday, three men were shot dead in their neighbourhood at about 2.30pm. Six hours after, the newspapers went to press not knowing the identity of two of the men while the other one was more likely to be named as ‘Warlord’. They were nobodies. On social media, some rejoiced …
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