Tag Archives: Education

In his 2007 work Categorically Unequal, sociologist Douglas Massey argues ‘education is the most important resource in today’s knowledge-based economy’. It is, therefore, not surprising to witness the passionate debate on this topic and to read the very different views of Mr Fitzgerald Hinds (Express, 2 February) and Mrs Kamla …

In August 1962, the first Common Entrance group entered secondary schools and heard Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams say: “… you carry the future of Trinidad and Tobago in your school bag.” At QRC, there was a boy from Rio Claro, another from Princes Town (now president of the Old …

One does not have to be a legal expert to recognise that hair-shaming, such as reported in the St Stephen’s College incident, is a violation of our Constitution—‘the supreme law of Trinidad and Tobago’ (Article 2). I want to submit further that the incident is also a clear violation of …

The attention on the 40 scholarships won by Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu School and on them winning the president’s medal overlooked the mind-boggling consistent performance of the St Augustine Girls’ High School that copped 28 open scholarships, which is 13 more than their closest rivals. The Greater St Augustine area, defined …

In the 2012 budget, the government adopted a lofty goal: ‘Education for all’. It was built on the Draft Quality Standards for Education (2005) and inter alia sought to ensure all students achieved recognised and measurable learning outcomes so that they could contribute to the country’s economic sustainability and be …

A principal’s job is no walk in the park. Wired868 spoke with a teacher of mathematics and additional maths for more than 17 years, who eventually became the principal of a secondary school in East Trinidad. She finds it taxing but would do it all again if she had to, …

In 1999, Clivia Jones went to school with a modest cornrow hairstyle only to be told by the Corpus Christi principal to fix her hair or stay home. This story came to mind when I read of two recent incidents. The first was of a Port of Spain schoolteacher spewing …

“On results day, they handed me this slip and I discovered I did not pass for my first choice or second choice. I passed for Success Laventille Composite School. “I felt disappointed in my results and I even felt disappointed about other people getting what I thought was better results.” …

For more than a decade, I have consistently taken the position that so called stakeholder consultations, pretty ministerial speeches and public relations announcements will contribute little to improving the lives of our disadvantaged young people—many of whom are easily lured into violent crime as a way of life. One reason …

The following is the fourth and final instalment in Owen Thompson’s four-part series on the classic album, More Sparrow More!, by iconic calypsonian Slinger “Sparrow” Francisco: There are other equally telling avenues that allow us to arrive at meaning and afford us powerful glimpses into the unique quality of the …

“I expect that President Paula Mae Weekes’ call for an overhaul of our education system will be met by something resembling an overhaul—or a series of scripted measures that can be reasonably passed off as one—which stops just short of questioning the purpose of education in the context of a …

“Everyone seems to be in agreement with president [Paula Mae] Weekes’ [call to overhaul our education system], which isn’t surprising for two reasons: she’s the President; and she offered no concrete examples of what an overhaul would constitute. “This vagueness allows anyone to agree to an overhaul, according to whatever …