“Why are parents so upset and concerned about school work during that period?! They do not want to admit it, but they have had enough of their own angels! “And you know if there was school and no Covid-19, I bet you almost all of these same parents would not have …
Read More »Trinidad and Tobago unplugged: Rowley closes nation’s borders for 14 days; pubs to shut down
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has announced that Trinidad and Tobago will close its borders to all visitors for the next 14 days from midnight 17 March. Meanwhile, schools will remain closed until 20 April 2020. The decision, according to Rowley, is a first step to stop the twin-island republic …
Read More »Media musings: I tweet, therefore I am? Facts, truth and reader education
Lloyd Best used to say that Trinidad and Tobago is a country where people walk about with their heads empty. That may explain why, for so many of us Trinis, facts are sacred things. “Facts are facts,” India’s Jawaharlal Nehru once declared, “and they will not disappear on account of …
Read More »Noble: Is education still the path to social mobility?
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 …
Read More »Noble: From Dr Williams’ education dream to nightmarish inequalities; what went wrong?
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 …
Read More »Claude’s Comments: Education Ministry is allowing discrimination against African hair
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 …
Read More »Noble: Schools and life chances; why ‘prestige’ schools succeed
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 …
Read More »Noble: Education for the privileged; how the dice is loaded against poor students
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 …
Read More »Day in the Life of a secondary school principal: Keeping everyone satisfied
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, …
Read More »Salandy: Discrimination and abuse rampant in education system; and taxpayers are funding it
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 …
Read More »Dear Editor: I was disappointed to pass for Success Laventille; why we must broaden view on education
“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.” …
Read More »Daly Bread: Enabling empowerment without dependency; the curse of visionless leadership
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 …
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