Although Government has accelerated the preparation of leases for distribution to former Caroni (1975) Limited workers, more than 200 of them cannot be distributed because the beneficiaries never showed up to execute them, Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said. The leases are for two-acre parcels of agricultural lands allocated under a 2003 VSEP agreement. 

Speaking at an agricultural and residential lease distribution ceremony for the former Caroni workers at Rienzi Complex, Couva, the minister reiterated his commitment to meet a target delivery of some 7,246 leases for the plots by December 31. 

He said: “I learnt only last evening, that of those persons called to execute leases towards the end of January, 205 failed to show up and there are leases available for execution that have not yet been executed. 

“So today, I ask that the union work alongside Caroni and the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries to make sure that we communicate with those persons whose leases are ready and awaiting execution so that we can move the process along.”

Rambharat told approximately 300 farmers at the ceremony that by the end of March he will make a clear statement as to how his ministry intends to address the backlog of commitments for distribution of State lands for agricultural purposes.

He lamented on the plight of farmers, including those in Mayaro, who are squatting on State lands, despite the voiced intentions of previous administrations to regularise land tenure. He said it was imperative that the resources of the ministry be put to use to fulfil Government’s commitment on land tenure. 

“I have the wonderful task of holding the very said ministry the Prime Minister held when he first became a minister in 1991, having previously served in his first job in the public service as a Fisheries Officer in Tobago,” he said.

“The Honourable Prime Minister is also a registered farmer so everything will be alright, not because of what I do, but what he makes sure I do.”

Jerry Hospedales, chairman, Caroni (1975) Limited, described the restructuring of the company as “an important step in the strengthening of the economy of Trinidad and Tobago with the reallocation of idle human and capital resources to much more efficient uses.” 

He added: “Indeed, with the current diversification plans to develop the agricultural sector the Government has committed itself to an efficient agro-based industry which could flourish in the country. The recently-appointed Committee for the Monitoring of Food Imports by Minister Rambharat would undoubtedly facilitate the expansion of agricultural production. This initiative would lead to the rebuilding and the repositioning of agriculture as a major sector which would anchor the achievement of food security in Trinidad and Tobago.”

Hospedales said establishment of commercial and industrial economic zones will facilitate the revitalisation of Caroni lands and the emerging and alternative economic opportunities will make difference in the lives of the former employees. 

“These lives would now be placed on a more sustainable footing than they were in the business model anchored on the sugar industry which had long lost its competitiveness and which depended on the State for regular subventions for survival,” he said.

“This model was not in the best interest of you the former employees and the distribution of leases today marks a turning point in your lives and indeed that of the communities within which the residential and agricultural estates are located.”

Digicel T&T has been recognised by international organisation Ookla as having the fastest broadband and mobile networks in the country. Ookla is the global leader in broadband testing and web-based network diagnostic applications. The company’s software and methodologies set the broadband and mobile telecommunications industry standards for accuracy, popularity and ease of use as well as the generation of statistical data.

Sacha Thompson, Digicel CEO commented said: “It’s interesting to note the development of our network and that’s because we’ve continuously invested over time in both the technologies and the human resources of our company. Our primary focus has always been to give our customers value for their money. 

“This award solidifies everything that we’ve worked for and continues to encourage us to do what we’ve done since our entry into the Trinidad and Tobago market ten years ago. We have constantly been on the cusp of technology transitioning our mobile network from GSM technology to where we’re at today with 4G technology. 

“We’ve invested in strengthening our signal across the length and breadth of Trinidad and Tobago ensuring that our customers are able to take advantage of the full potential of our network and we’re constantly developing products that enable our customers to maximise their spending dollar.” 

In January, the company launched its entertainment solution, Digicel Play, which features TV, broadband and landline services.  At the launch, Digicel Play CEO Garvin Medera conducted a live speed test using the Ookla website of speedtest.net. The results showed Digicel Play broadband achieving speeds of over 1 gigabit per second. 

Medera noted on the advent of Digicel Play: “There is no competition for us right now in the Trinidad and Tobago market. “Digicel Play offers the most advanced online, TV and digital voice experience that’s delivering amazing services at affordable prices. 

What remains at our core is customer service. We’ve spent some time developing our systems to cater to the customer from interest to installation. To be backed by internationally recognised criteria such as Ookla is just testament to the quality of that service.” 

The company’s broadband speeds also play a role in their Fibre to the Business service. Since 2014 Digicel Business has been the top provider in business solutions in the Port-of-Spain area. General manager of Digicel Business Garret Quinn said: “The benefits of the Cloud can only be truly realised with reliable and affordable high-bandwidth data services. 

“We are delighted that thousands of businesses in T&T are now benefitting from Digicel Business’ Fibre To The Business services. This is transformative for the corporate landscape and is strategically important to help drive the ICT sector development in our country.”

Medera summarised in this way: “This is just another step on our journey. We are now a total telecommunications provider, delivering in the areas of: mobile; broadband; landline and TV. We will not compromise on service quality or our customer care in delivering the products and services that people of this country deserve. We’ve progressed significantly and there’s still more to come.”

After two grand openings and a largely successful run at Williams Bay, it seems that in less than half a decade and after spending $40 million in taxpayer money, the Chaguaramas Boardwalk project is already in need of remedial works.

The Boardwalk development project, touted by the People’s Partnership Government as only the first stake in the ground for a massive rethinking of development in Chaguaramas is apparently plagued by structural and construction issues, security concerns, a lack of a proper water supply to its public areas and electrical issues.

The first phase of the Boardwalk project was formally opened in May 2012 as a “space for commerce and recreational activities” by former Chaguaramas Development Authority chairman Daniel Solomon.

The formal opening of the first phase of the project, budgeted at $6 million, was widely heralded and the use of eco-friendly recycled raw materials in its construction; solar powered lamps to supply light in the evening and the presence of security seemed a sensible approach to reigniting the popularity of Williams Bay with the public.

In December 2014, the second phase of the project, an expansion of the original concept, was formally opened.

The boardwalk had been extended by 1,300 feet, a central relaxation area encircled by vendor’s booths had been added and covered visitor booths with running water had been installed and made available for rent, a feature that has been used for small parties and extended seaside outings by families.

The budget for the second phase was set at $35 million, and a dramatic third phase, which would have included the addition of a standing amusement park was set to begin in early 2015. But by then, despite early and enthusiastic acceptance, the pace of development at Chaguaramas seemed to run beyond the expectations of the citizens who were using the space.

Farmers protested the razing of land they had planted at Chaguaramas, the yachting support industry, stalled and faltering, wondered publicly what was going to be done about the problems with their businesses and the owners of the Military Museum, a popular historical project led by Gaylord Kelshall, was given an eviction notice.

Now the Boardwalk, the flagship of citizen-centred development at Chaguaramas and an unequivocal success with the public it was built to serve, is in need of serious repair, rethinking and reevaluation.

Even as he acknowledged the problems facing the facility, chairman of the CDA, Anthony Pierre promised that all phases of the development project would be completed, though 2016 would be a year of “consolidation.”

Mr Pierre might find it useful to explain exactly what would now constitute the third phase of a project that once included a grand amusement park of doubtful sustainability, and a highway built along the coast meant to solve the interminable traffic problems that plague Chaguaramas.

As far as the vendors operating in the space are concerned, the problems are much simpler. They want more marketing of the space and better security at night, something that one might have expected to be an integral part of the original plan for development.

It might also prove helpful for the new CDA board to proceed with less of an eye on pomp while bringing greater dedication to consultation that captures the actual wishes and needs of the users of the attractive niche of the northern peninsula that all this work is intended to serve.

Kofi Annan, 
former Secretary-General 
of the United Nations

In my experience, good public policy is best shaped by the dispassionate analysis of what in practice has worked, or not. Policy based on common assumptions and popular sentiments can become a recipe for mistaken prescriptions and misguided interventions. Nowhere is this divorce between rhetoric and reality more evident than in the formulation of global drug policies, where too often emotions and ideology rather than evidence have prevailed.

Take the case of the medical use of cannabis. By looking carefully at the evidence from the United States, we now know that legalising the use of cannabis for medical purposes has not, as opponents argued, led to an increase in its use by teenagers. By contrast, there has been a near tripling of American deaths from heroin overdoses between 2010 and 2013, even though the law and its severe punishments remain unchanged.

This year, between April 19 and 21, the United Nations General Assembly will hold a special session on drugs and the world will have a chance to change course. As we approach that event, we need to ask ourselves if we are on the right policy path.

More specifically, how do we deal with what the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has called the “unintended consequences” of the policies of the last 50 years, which have helped, among other things, to create a vast, international criminal market in drugs that fuels violence, corruption and instability? Just think of the 16,000 murders in Mexico in 2013, many of which are directly linked to drug trafficking.

Globally, the “war on drugs” has not succeeded. Some estimate that enforcing global prohibition costs at least $100 billion a year, but as many as 300 million people now use drugs worldwide, contributing to a global illicit market with a turnover of $330 billion a year, one of the largest commodity markets in the world.

Prohibition has had little impact on the supply of or demand for drugs. Nor has prohibition significantly reduced use. Studies have consistently failed to establish the existence of a link between the harshness of a country’s drug laws and its levels of drug use. The widespread criminalisation and punishment of people who use drugs, the over-crowded prisons, mean that the war on drugs is, to a significant degree, a war on drug users—a war on people.

Africa is sadly an example of these problems. The West Africa Commission on Drugs, which my foundation convened, reported last year that the region has now become not only a major transit point between producers in Latin America and consumers in Europe, but an area where consumption is increasing. Drug money, and the criminality associated with it, is fostering corruption and violence. 

I believe that drugs have destroyed many lives, but wrong government policies have destroyed many more. 

The tendency in many parts of the world to stigmatise and incarcerate drug users has prevented many from seeking medical treatment. In what other areas of public health do we criminalise patients in need of help? Punitive measures have sent many people to prison, where their drug use has worsened. A criminal record for a young person for a minor drug offence can be a far greater threat to their well-being than occasional drug use.

The original intent of drug policy, according to the UN Convention on Narcotic Drugs, was to protect the “health and welfare of mankind.” We need to refocus international and national policy on this key objective. This requires us to take four critical steps.

First, we must decriminalise personal drug use. The use of drugs is harmful and reducing those harms is a task for the public health system, not the courts. This must be coupled with the strengthening of treatment services, especially in middle and low-income countries.

Second, we need to accept that a drug-free world is an illusion. We must focus instead on ensuring that drugs cause the least possible harm. Harm reduction measures, such as needle exchange programmes, can make a real difference. 

Third, we have to look at regulation and public education rather than the total suppression of drugs, which we know will not work. The steps taken successfully to reduce tobacco consumption (a very powerful and damaging addiction) show what can be achieved. It is regulation and education, not the threat of prison, which has cut the number of smokers in many countries. Higher taxes, restrictions on sale and effective anti-smoking campaigns have delivered the right results.

The legal sale of cannabis is a reality that started with California legalising the sale of cannabis for medical use in 1996. Since then, 22 US states and some European countries have followed suit. Last year, Colorado collected around $135 million in taxes and license fees related to legal cannabis sales. Others have taken less commercial routes. And Canada looks likely to become the first G7 country to regulate the sale of cannabis next year.

Initial trends show us that where cannabis has been legalised, there has been no explosion in drug use or drug-related crime. The size of the black market has been reduced and thousands of young people have been spared criminal records. But a regulated market is not a free market. We need to carefully think through what needs regulating, and what does not. While most cannabis use is occasional, moderate and not associated with significant problems, it is nonetheless precisely because of its potential risks that it needs to be regulated.

And therefore, the fourth and final step is to recognise that drugs must be regulated precisely because they are risky. It is time to acknowledge that drugs are infinitely more dangerous if they are left solely in the hands of criminals who have no concerns about health and safety. Legal regulation protects health. Consumers need to be aware of what they are taking and have clear information on health risks and how to minimise them. Governments need to be able to regulate vendors and outlets according to how much harm a drug can cause. 

Scientific evidence and our concern for health and human rights must shape drug policy. 

Amery Browne

Tremendous resources and support are being provided to produce a small cadre of young people who are virtually perfect at the taking of exams, and every year the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders have tried to focus our attention on the achievements of those “gifted children.” The sad reality though is that the vast majority of our students are suffering through school as opposed to benefiting from it, and ultimately we all suffer.

Let’s peel away the facade provided by the stories of the various scholarship winners (of which I was one back at QRC) and of the students who are best in the region or world at one subject or another. 

The underlying reality is that we are being ravaged by a national epidemic of dysfunction and violence across the society and within our education system, and instead of helping us to inoculate our children many of our schools are literally serving as the hosts for the replication and maturation of the very characteristics that are destroying us. 

You are on dangerous ground indeed when your best hope of emergence from a challenge becomes the facilitator of that very challenge. Ergo, in T&T today we find ourselves on very dangerous ground.

Where do we go from here? To start with, we must focus primarily on the foundation. Talk to the principal of any challenged secondary school, talk to the teachers of students who were expelled or arrested or murdered and they would lament that they are under siege and in many cases the product that they are inheriting from the primary school system is damaged and dysfunctional.   

Often the patterns of violence, bullying, gang membership, misogyny, illiteracy, disrespect for authority and disregard for life and health are already well established, and then the secondary school simply serves to polish the dangerous characteristics and bring together the personalities that will ultimately occupy headlines and jail cells and untimely grave spots.

We must confront our epidemic of violence with a particular focus on the common staging area for all our young citizens: The Primary School. An examination of primary schools in many of the so-called hot spots would reveal derelict infrastructure, weak support systems, low morale and the overall texture of a child’s experience during his or her years there is not one of quality at all.

Every single administration has argued against the spending priorities of its predecessors and this one must get it right. 

I suggest a Marshall Plan, as it were, for Primary Schools in this land (NOT a Martial Plan). In the late 1940s George Marshall proposed a massive effort to rebuild post war Europe, recognising that a restored and well-functioning Europe would help achieve a more stable global environment. It started with a declaration at a university, then a commitment, then the mobilisation of gargantuan financial and other resources in a targeted fashion.

We can start with a five-year plan for primary schools, founded on what we envision those schools should look and feel like in the future. Yes, it could involve sacrificing some of the stadia and other big projects, but frankly our very future is at stake. Some children suffer from dysfunctional home conditions and a lack of exposure to an environment of inspiration. 

It is not beyond us as a society to ensure that in five years every community has a primary school that literally provides a First World ambience, a nucleus of quality despite its surroundings. From the moment your child enters the gate the school should be basically indistinguishable from the best school in the best country.  

The plan must include but go well beyond absolutely first class physical infrastructure. Despite the efforts to send weak parents to “workshops” to make them better parents, we should recognise that the best interventions to produce good parents and citizen leaders occur before they actually become parents. 

Accordingly, health and family life education must be scaled up and effectively and comprehensively implemented in every single school. Resourcing must be increased for the scouts, cadets and police youth clubs to do far more within our primary schools.  

Mediation and crisis prevention training must begin from this tender age; this can be combined with innovative literacy training as was initiated under a certain former Minister of Social Development; such programmes require urgent funding and scale-up.

If violence is the disease, violence can’t be the cure, and an ethos and philosophy of peace must characterise our primary schools of the future, utilising targeted behaviour change communication techniques. Ultimately the entire society will benefit.

Other components should include involving all schools in community service initiatives as part of the curriculum, and elimination of the SEA and any similar abrupt measures that make and break the lives of young children. 

All brains are not the same and we cannot ask a beautiful fish to climb a tree and then judge her or him on their tree climbing prowess.

Speaking of trees, let’s get our next generation to plant and care for tropical fruit trees like rambutan, caimite and pois doux as well as short crops right in their school compounds; this will provide healthy snacks and teach much-needed nurturing and productivity skills. 

Let’s get students from our universities to do presentations and host after-school programmes at our primary schools for both children and their parents, and let us recruit people from the challenged communities who have succeeded to engage in more direct mentoring at the school itself. 

Our primary school children should also be cultured to clean their own classrooms and to serve each other meals from the earliest possible age.

During my youth I once did a research project at the prison in Port-of-Spain, and I will never forget the experience of seeing the innards of a jail and meeting the prisoners including some that I had known from school. Might I suggest that if and when the Carrera Prison is closed it be utilised for a period as a museum and all primary schools be routinely scheduled to tour the facilities, hosted by former prisoners?

I don’t have all the answers and this article merely touches on a few suggestions, but I have been heartened by some of the pronouncements of Minister Francis and the Prime Minister who seem to be boldly suggesting a complete revolution in education aimed at equity. In some ways we have approached equality of opportunity in the country with GATE and other tools, but we remain quite far from equality of inspiration with respect to the daily experiences of our youngest citizens. 

The latter must be our destination, because the only alternative would be another end point, one day, called Martial Law.

I think Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police for Community Relations Enez Joseph’s suggestion of police youth clubs in primary and secondary schools and other support frameworks is well worth considering. 

Children learn what they see, they are not born “monsters.” When these children act out in school, the behaviour is well entrenched. They had to learn it, deal with it somewhere. 

As children, we have to accept how the adults around us treat us. When we are old enough, we assimilate and assess. Who knows what these children have to deal with on a daily basis?

If ag ACoP Joseph’s suggestion is given serious consideration, a police youth club should be equipped with qualified personnel/counsellors to pick up on children with behavioural/family problems. They should be given whatever help they require to deal with these issues. Some children just want to survive the day, they are not in a position to learn anything and for all we know, they have to go to a “home” where more challenges await them.

This is not only a family problem, it is one for the society and all our leaders to come together to solve. It takes a village to raise a child, it is said, and this is even more relevant now than it ever was. We need to wake up to the crisis that our youth are living in and not label and demean them.

Annie Downie
Concerned Mother
Couva

In the T&T Guardian article “Bad parenting partly to blame—TTUTA” (February 24, 2016), TTUTA president Devanand Sinanan goes to great lengths to partly blame parenting for the ills with today’s students but without identifying who the other responsible part is. 

TTUTA advocate Sinanan is always prone to taking the moral high ground and extolling the great virtues of the TTUTA. He does this, however, without mentioning the complicity of his members in any education problem, without accepting any blame for classroom disruption and poor school and student performance. Does he cite the other part of the problem—the teachers—and their truancy from the classroom?

How can Sinanan’s teachers control the classroom when they are too often not there? Teacher truancy is a major un-addressed education problem here and Sinanan and the TTUTA not only do nothing about it, but actually exacerbate the problem. 

According to a previous Guardian newspaper report there are over 200 disciplinary actions pending against teachers, many going back years. The purported reason no action has taken place is constant obstruction and delay tactics by this same union. 

It appears that the tail is wagging the dog here.

In this same issue of the Guardian on blaming bad parenting is an article entitled Dr Tim on PM’s ‘monsters’ remark. Here, the former MoE talked about the foundation of any progressive school system and recalled his attempt to “restore an education system that was failing on many levels.” Why did not Dr Tim correct the truant teacher problem—clearly a major cause of failure.

Highlighting the effect on teaching goals is a current New York Times article on teacher truancy in India. From the Times “To prepare more than 200 million primary school children for jobs in a modern work force, India passed legislation a decade ago that more than doubled education spending, increased teacher salaries and reduced class sizes.” 

Indian education officials expected a subsequent rise in school performance. What they found greatly disturbed them.

The Times article goes on to state: “But children’s already low performance has fallen. Pratham Education Foundation, a nonprofit that conducts an annual household survey, reported that in 2005 about 60 per cent of fifth graders in rural India—where most people live—could read at a minimum second-grade level, but that in 2014 less than 50 per cent could.”

After controlling for many variables, the experts determined that “teacher truancy is among the more prominent causes of that failure.” Teacher truancy is also a big part of the problem here and the TTUTA is complicit in perpetuating this problem. 

The regressive, reactionary stance of the TTUTA has to be changed and the teachers and their union have to understand they are employed to serve the needs of the people and not the people serve the needs of the union. The tail cannot be allowed to continue to wag the dog.

One may ask why the T&T government and the ministry allow this situation to exist. It appears that the Ministry does not have the power to enforce teacher discipline. It further appears that in order to effect reform and change, the constitution would have to be changed. Don’t hold your breath if you expect this to occur soon, if ever.

In lieu of forcing a direct confrontation with the teachers and its union, why not offer the teachers a deal? We will greatly increase your salaries, if you get behind the change needed to build a “progressive school system.” 

This can also be expected to have the added benefit of increasing the quality of teacher candidates. From 2004 to 2015, over $40 billion have been invested in education. What is there to show for this investment other than a failed education system?

Leonard Bernstein, DMD
Sydenham Ave, St Ann’s

In a recently published letter in which I rubbished the idea of boot camps as a solution to our issues of juvenile delinquency, I also made reference to continuous assessment as a measure to curb the incidence of school violence.

I hereby make a public appeal to the government to immediately set up a Centre for Psycho-Social Assessment, linked directly to the Ministry of Education, networking with the Ministry of Health, and charged with the responsibility of working with our children from pre-school to tertiary level. This perhaps could fall under the purview of the Children’s Authority.

The focus of this programme should be primary healthcare where the promotion of the physical and mental health of our children is paramount. 

The purpose here is to map the development of our children throughout their various stages, with the view to engage in appropriate interventions when required. This means that issues that threaten the physical and mental health of our children can be flagged and treated before they escalate into the kind of problems we are encountering now.

This approach will include the assessment of the living conditions, family dynamics and other environmental factors that impact on the psychological and social well being of our children, which is at the core of dysfunctional behaviour in our schools. 

Our children attend school with the weight of the psycho-social problems affecting the home; inadequate nutrition, various forms of abuse and neglect, exposure to major negative influences, and forced to function in a highly structured and competitive academic environment which demands their full attention.

It is not difficult to justify consideration of this centre as we can see our present trajectory is taking us into a state of anarchy in short order. We have become a society like the proverbial dog chasing after its own tail. We are reacting to a range of problems from recession to a breakdown in our education system. 

Our criminal elements function with disdain as our judicial system labour under systemic lethargy, and our jails thrive as universities of higher criminal learning. What is worse, our school children have fallen into the whirlwind and are now a part of the madness that is taking over our society.

A pro-active solution is urgently needed if we are to save the next generation from this mayhem. We have no shortage of trained professionals, as every year we churn out hundreds of social work and psychology graduates from our universities and colleges. 

Let’s put them to work in the Psychosocial Assessment Centre and give our children a fighting chance to survive in our society. 

Further we must teach our children to be sociable; the art of living in a family, community and society. 

Rekindle and improve the Health and Family Life Education curriculum, replace exams with assessment programmes with a view to streaming our children into their appropriate vocational paths and include sports as career options.

If we remove exams we will automatically remove the word failure from our vocabulary as it relates to our children. This will remove the pressure from our children and once more make school days happy days. 

Extract some of the billions allocated to national security and invest it in this programme for the development of our children, and in time we will reap the benefits of a substantial reduction, even elimination, of crime and juvenile delinquency in our country. Incidentally, there will soon be a shortage of policemen and soldiers to deal with the escalating crime situation, what will we do then?

Garvin Cole

Tobago

by email

The Prime Minister made some damning statements on our education system. 

These include:

• society has only been concerned with certification and not education; 

• it’s about getting a certificate to the point now that they are telling you that they can give you an MBA in six months… a lot of false papers washing in T&T, with uneducated people; 

• (we) have consistently spent the largest chunk of our budgetary allocation on education and education has changed the lives of every family in the country; 

• the average citizen has to look for more in education, teachers who teach have to teach more than what is coming in the exam.

If, for example, we were to examine the impact of our education system on, or because of our economic system, certain facts emerge. 

It is normally believed that increases in the number of educated people in a country drive economic growth and its competitiveness. Instead we find the opposite is the case locally; increases in economic growth, driven by the foreign exchange we earn from the energy sector drive increases in the number of educated/certified people. 

In particular the growth of the economy allowed universal primary and secondary education and the widespread use of GATE to fund any who qualified for tertiary education. However, an IDB report showed that some 79 per cent of the graduate workforce of the region emigrates- they were unable to get jobs locally that meet with their training.

The energy sector which is driven by foreign investment, its technology and innovation employs only 4 per cent of the local workforce and forms some 45 per cent of GDP. The onshore commercial/industrial sector forms 35 per cent of GDP. 

A study conducted by the Lok Jack Graduate School, UWI, tells us that the majority of on-shore entrepreneurs did not come from the certified tertiary level graduate pool, but were mainly educated at most to secondary level.

The obvious conclusion that can be gleaned from these facts is that the on-shore economy that utilises the foreign exchange earned by the energy sector in the provision of the necessities and luxuries via imports for the population, does not require a highly educated or technologically knowledgeable workforce to carry out its economic- its consumerism- activities. 

In other words the knowledge and innovation that necessarily support the energy sector are provided by foreign investment- we maintain and operate plant and dabble in some low level fabrication. The on-shore sector has no need for sophisticated knowledge or innovation to carry out its economic mandate. 

Hence, education at the higher levels, in STEM for example, as seen, is not the driver of on-shore economic growth; rather it is something we engage in because the economy can afford it, while many of its graduates are exported- this is a property of a plantation economy. The brutal fact is that the on-shore economy puts no demands on our education system besides the conventional 3Rs and some rudimentary skills.

Diversification of the economy into exports other than those from the energy sector depends specifically on the acquisition of global competitiveness that requires the acquisition of knowledge, our ability to use it in providing exports and innovate with it, even creating new knowledge. Hence, an education system that provides via its centres of excellence the knowledge and highly skilled and specialised human resources is key to any diversification effort we may make.

There was the hope that our education system when left on its own would produce the centres of excellence, the specialised human resources- hence the diversification of the economy; this did not happen. 

Etzkowitz demonstrated that there needs to be an integrated system of inclusive institutions if such an economic development system is to exist. He called it the “Triple Helix” which is an amalgam of the private sector, the government and the education system, in particular the R&D institutions. This system, this innovation system, provides the fundamental and chosen knowledge to the private sector entrepreneurs- funded in part by government- who with their own venture capital provide the commercial/industrial clusters that exploit the inventions/innovations. Such an education system has demands placed on it by the economic development of a country.

If we are to make our education system relevant to our economic development, which it is not at the moment, we have to build our own model of the Triple Helix- the Innovation Diamond, one that I have introduced in this space many years ago.

The Prime Minister’s complaint vis a vis society’s concern with certification as opposed to education is a characteristic of a plantation that values on-shore the ‘mas’, the costumes, the education system provides- the certification- and not the substance- the knowledge.

Mary K King

St Augustine

The chaos in our schools is a glaring reflection of our societal principals on behaviour and standards. Education is extremely broad and this learning process is where by we acquire knowledge, skills, values and even routine behaviour, however, many of the youth in Trinidad and Tobago have not benefitted from this privilege.

The truly underpinning matter is that one can be academically successful but posses little or no passion whilst performing their jobs, as the whole idea was to get certified so we can earn more money, not necessarily to contribute to our country or to help our fellow citizens. 

When the concept of education is given this limited scope, the essence is lost, so the approach must be on developing a citizen of mental and moral quality distinctive to our people.

Colin Fortune'

DeGannes Street

Arima

I­ thought we were in a recession. But just recently I saw the University of T&T (UTT) advertise eight (8) staff positions in the Performing Arts department, including a professor of trumpet. LOL. 

Sorry to use text abbreviations in a letter, but there is no English word that can capture the absurdity of that sentiment. I understand that class sizes in UTT’s performing arts are around 5 – 10 students. Does that really justify the hiring of (most likely) foreign expertise during a major recession?

Prime Minister Keith Rowley argued during the budget debate that offering free tertiary education was a luxury the country could afford when the price of oil was high, but cannot be justified now. 

Well by extension good doctor, could we justify hiring foreign academics for a handful of students pursuing a degree that contributes solely to culture and nothing to the economy? Why not redirect that focus and funding to the education and engineering degrees which are more highly populated student-wise?

Darren Chatoo

Couva

DE GOVIA, LUCILLE JOAN PHILLIP was born on 9th Dec. 1927 and departed this life on 23rd February, 2016. She was predeceased by her mother Gladys, father Ewen, husbands John Phillip and George de Govia, beloved son Anthony, 1 brother and 2 sisters. She leaves to celebrate her life her children Janet Phillip, Jennifer Mahon, Ansil Phillip, Avril Tolbert and Andy Phillip, 11 Grandchildren, 17 Great grandchildren, 8 brothers and sisters, numerous nieces, nephews and friends.

Her funeral service will take place at 10.30am on Thursday 3rd March, 2016 at St Finbar's R.C. Church, Westmoorings thence to the Crematorium, Long Circular Road, St James. Cremation at 12.00 noon. No flowers by request. A donation will be taken up for the St Mary's R.C. Church Restoration Fund. For enquiries; call C&B: 625-1170. To send condolences please visit our website www.clarkandbattoo.com

MAINGOT, GLENFORD age 70, passed away on February 27th 2016. He was the son of Eric and Moradan Maingot. Husband of Amoy Maingot. Former husband of Kathleen Maharaj (Sanowar). Father of Andre, Englebert(deceased) Stanley, Daniel, Ryan (deceased) and Christy. Brother of Michael, Lionel(deceased), Rose Mohammed, Joseph, Clyde and Joyceln Nathu.

Father- in-law of Gail and Lisa Maingot. Grandfather of Janey-Lee, Matthew, Dana, Ashley, Andre Jr., Amy, Lance and Jonathan. Brotherin- Law of Bill Nathu, Marie and Margret. Friend of the Abraham and Nahous Families.

Funeral service at 10.00 am on Wednesday 2nd March, 2016 at St Theresa s R.C. Church, De Verteuil Street, Woodbrook thence to the Lapeyrouse Cemetery. For enquiries; call C&B: 625-1170- To send condolences please visit our website www.clarkandbattoo.com

MARK- GORDON DR. GLORIA died peacefully on Friday 26th February 2016. Loving mother of Yma. Devoted grandmother of Nyeem. First born child of Albert and Thelma Mark. Gloria was pre deceased by her parents and siblings Carlisle, Ainsley and Shirley. She is survived by Carol. Mother-in-law of Maurice Reid. Sister -in-law of Clair.

Aunt of Sharon, Anthony, Cheryl and Ruskin Mark, Darryl Sambrano, Kathleen Mc Carthy and Kamau, Sekou and Nje Mark. Great aunt of Tsahai, Chiano, Cherisse, Kashif, Maleek, Maya, Kayla, Asher, Samara and 9 others. Relative of the Maloney's. Friend of Pearl Wilson, Dorrel Philip, Peter Minshall, Leroy Clarke, Pamela Hunter, Glen da Costa and Valerie Laurent.

Funeral service on Wednesday 2nd March 2016 at 9am from St.Ann's R.C. Church St.Ann's thence to the Crematorium L.C.R. St. James for 11am. No flowers by request.

Ryan Hadeed

On April 20, 1999, an event transpired in the American heartland that shook the nation to its core. Two high school students, armed with guns and homemade explosives, murdered 12 of their peers, one teacher, and injured 21 additional people. 

It was a carefully planned and executed attack that, according to their own journals, was months in the making. On that day the word “Columbine,” in reference to the school’s name, became a morbid addition to the American vernacular. Even worse is the fact that it has been used too many times, describing the more than 40 mass shootings that have occurred since then. 

No longer do parents only have to worry about their children succeeding academically and socially. Now there’s the fear of something terrible happening to them while at school, resulting in calls to mobile phones that go unanswered.

That same fear almost materialised here two weeks ago, when a local student allegedly planned to “pull a Columbine” at the Chaguanas North Secondary School. Apparently, the quick action by the security forces and the school administration averted a potential disaster from emerging. 

This, however, is just the newest chapter in the continuing saga about the deterioration of our education system. It’s an unfortunate truth that while schools are not places of violence, violent acts do take place. 

For the last couple of years, thanks to the prevalence of camera-equipped mobile phones, we’ve been treated to almost monthly episodes of student “rumbles” breaking out both in and outside of the classroom. The Ministry of Education has been hard-pressed in finding a solution to provide and maintain an environment of safety and security. But even then, some schools have long ceased to be institutions of learning, and are instead little more than glorified day-care centres.

So once again we are faced with the question of, “Where do we begin?” Echoing the prime ministers who went before him, Dr Rowley recently stated that consultations must be held with the relevant stakeholders for the purpose of updating our British-inherited model. Whether or not action will finally follow the “ole talk” is left to be seen. 

But if year after year our largest budgetary allocation goes towards the education sector and things haven’t been getting better, then either not enough is being done or we are doing something very wrong. The answer, in this case, may very well be both: more needs to be done and the focus needs to be expanded. 

Even if our schools had the best of everything—adequate resources, more teachers, and state-of-the-art equipment, all would be for naught if the life of a student, before and after the bell rings, is not addressed as well. For the battle over our nation’s youth can’t only be waged in the classroom, but also in the home.

Some members of the public took umbrage to the Dr Rowley’s labelling of some of our nation’s children as “monsters.” And though some may argue that, “A rose by any other name, would smell just as sweet,” if there are indeed monsters in our midst, then we all need to be concerned about the conditions that nurture them. 

The blame for troubled youth always starts with the parents, and Trinbagonians are quick to suggest that such is the outcome when not enough “cut-a---” is applied. I personally don’t have an issue with the use of corporal punishment; it was a commodity that was never in short supply when I was growing up. I would even say that my parents were practising “communists” when it came to the distribution of licks, as there was an equal share for one and all. 

Putting aside the humour of those admittedly painful moments, what I remember the most from my childhood is the quality time I spent with my parents and the interest they took in my life and education. My mother would sit with my siblings and I while we did our homework, and once completed our father would look it over.

We ate dinner together as a family and conversed with each other. We watched the nightly news and were encouraged to share our opinions about events taking place in the world around us. They knew who our friends were and the families they came from. And yes there was discipline, but it was always deserved and always fair. 

Now in the average household where one or both parents work, the priority might be to keep their young ones fed, clothed and housed as opposed to making sure that they “feel good about themselves.” But some of the most important things that we need, especially in our youth, cost nothing but “time.” And it’s something where a little can go a long way. 

Yes, it takes a village to raise a child, but charity must begin at home if we are to curtail the creation of such “monsters.” It’s one of the ways to ensure that nowhere in T&T ever becomes a Columbine.

I was so amazed and shocked to see the prices of food in the grocery stores this month. I could not imagine that the prices could become so ridiculously high. As far as I could see, VAT was added on to VAT. 

I bought a bottle of Carbonell X- Virgin Olive oil January month end for which I paid $76. Last week, the same olive oil was $90. The Anchor veggie cheese I paid $37 for in January, now costs $44, and I can go on and on. 

It is wicked and evil to see what the merchants are doing. We need the Minister or anyone who is involved in the Consumer Affairs Division to get this situation regulated right now. This is injustice to the consumers. I have no intention, at no time, to eat farine for my breakfast. I do my best to eat healthy.

This is preposterous. What the merchants are showing is that they can do what they want. But we the consumers have the power to make them do what is right and the only way for that to happen is for all of us to come together and shut them down for about two weeks.

We have to co-operate for this plan to work. Two weeks no shopping! We cannot allow them to get away with this. We need to get into action now and stop this madness. All we need is two weeks. 

This is nothing more than greed and wickedness and it must be fixed now. 

Modicia Martin

When is overtime not overtime? There is an article in yesterday’s T&T Guardian about the removal of overtime for house officers at San Fernando General Hospital.

It is strange that the word “overtime” is used. Workers in T&T understand overtime to be at at least 1.5 times the regular pay rate, increasing to two times after a certain number of hours and three times for public holidays and Sundays. Also meal allowances are paid. 

It must be pointed out that house officers (doctors) are obligated to work for 40 hours per week plus an additional 13 hours per week. This is 53 hours for a week, much more than most other workers and they do this at a single standard rate, ie there is no increased overtime rate for these doctors. Imagine working longer than the 53 hours and not being paid!

The SWRHA/Dr Chattergoon is asking doctors to work longer as a moral duty. No one has been asked to do so in the country. Additionally, it cannot be good industrial relations practice for workers to work more than the stipulated hours for no remuneration. 

This move would encourage locally qualified doctors to leave for the developed countries after being trained at great expense to T&T.

I do not think the Minister of Health nor the public would want to be patients of doctors who are not properly motivated.

Umanath Maharajh,

Arena Road, 

Freeport