RENTAL DEAL!

Page 18 ISSUE 147 Friday 11th MARCH, 2016
GET RID OF THE BAD
ELEMENTS IN SCHOOL
ed?
laws of the land that makes this situation gets the support
Is the school environment us a civilized society, otherwise,
from some prominent
conducive and friendly to
our existence may people in the society. I
those students who want to become short-lived.
secure their future?
The only way that the
STORY BY
Are there individuals impeding
the progress of those come protected is through
school environment can be-
RUFUS FOSTER
who want to advance in the rigid discipline – nothing
development of their lives? else. In the absence of
In Trinidad and Tobago, strict, discipline the buildings
schools can be found in every
that are called schools
constituency to accommodate
and which accommodate
the many young our children that should
children in our society. instead be called “Do your
Both past and present own thing Centers.” In
governments did their utmost
my days at school, just the
to ensure that educa-
presence of the whip or belt
Education Minister
tion is the bedrock of our kept reminding us about the
ANTHONY GARCIA
society by investing in the need to be disciplined and
erection of schools all over to avoid trouble. In this
the country for the purpose
of educating our youths.
Institutions for learning
have been around
for centuries and they
have served mankind well
throughout our history.
Different institutions are
specifically built to accommodate
certain training that
will facilitate individuals
coming from a particular
age group with a common
objective to prepare them
to better their lives as they
mature into being young
men and women.
One such institution in
Trinidad and Tobago for
learning comes through our
education system with the
availability of schools is it
primary or secondary.
The question must, therefore,
be asked, are our
schools serving the purpose
for which they were intend-
How then must these
schools function?
Without guidelines, rules
or regulations human beings
will operate at their
own whims and fancy.
In fact, it is through the
obedience and the willingness
of us to adhere to the
manner, those who were
very talented were not allowed
to be distracted by
those less inclined along
the education pathway.
Now, I am hearing corporal
punishment no longer
exists in the schools. Who
are those “Brilliant Minds”
that have made corporal
punishment extinct? In addition,
what is even scarier,
am not even too concerned
about those psychologists
who support the eradication
of corporal punishment in
our schools for I am certain
that those psychologists
need help themselves.
For those with religious
beliefs against corporal
punishment in schools, I am
wondering if their authority
is the Bible. Are they forgetting
that the first human
pair had to face dire consequences
for their disobedience?
Are they also forgetting
that we are told that foolishness
is tied up in the hearts
of young people and it is
the rod of correction that
will remove such?
Are they also forgetting
that the very scripture says
that the fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom?
Do these scriptures have
any meaning to those Christians
who are in agreement
with others to eradicate the
rod of correction?
With the absence of corporal
punishment or other
means of punishment, what
fear would schoolchildren
have in the school environment?
Why should young students
be permitted in the
classroom if they are not
prepared to take instructions
from their teachers?
Why should they with
their criminal records and/
or deviant behaviour be
allowed to remain in the
classroom to contaminate
the law abiding others?
Why must they be tolerated
in the school while
they are threatening the
lives of the very ones who
are there to educate them?
Why must young girls
who become pregnant be
allowed to continue in the
classroom?
Education Minister Anthony
Garcia should look
into the aforementioned
problems.
Our sympathetic hearts
and minds and our refusal
or inability to see and understand
logic will continue
to be our demise. Unless
there are robust aggressive
dealings with school delinquencies
the school system
will continue to be a failure
if we are not prepared to
act swiftly and decisively
in getting rid of those bad
elements within the school
walls.
NO MIRACLE
Story by JACK WARNER
Negligence!
That is the only
way one can describe
the events that lead
to the death of little baby
Miracle.
Whether or not we agree
with the way the fund was
being administered, the
Children’s Life Fund is a
necessity.
And to think that after so
many allegations of impropriety,
the least the administrators
would have done
is to perform efficiently to
eliminate the scarring of
this Fund under the PNM,
but alas!
The more things change
most certainly the more
they will remain the same.
for Miracle Baby Cross
Who failed to understand
all the nuances associated
with what is required when
one of our little babies require
critical surgery should
be fired.
And when the Fund’s Director
Dennis Cox is quoted
as saying a five-week delay
to process funding is not
unusual, it means that he
lacks the empathy and the
compassion to sit in the
chair as Director.
It is difficult not to feel
the pain the parents would
have experienced first at
the death of little Miracle
and shortly after to receive
a call indicating that the
people upon whom they depended
on for a miracle for
Miracle came hours late.
For over five weeks one
can only imagine the anxiety
of the baby’s parents while
these servants of the people
twiddled their thumbs innocuous
of the death sentence
they had pronounced
on little Miracle.
And the sad part about it
is that nothing will change,
no one will be held accountable
and more babies
will die because as far as
Director Dennis Cox is
concerned the actions of his
administrators were really
not unusual.
I did not know little Miracle
but my heart bleeds.
I was never privileged to
watch this baby smile but
I know the hope that I felt
when I believed that under a
caring PNM administration
that at least Miracle would
stand a fighting chance.
I never believed this is
the way the story would
have ended.
At least as a nation, we
expected the Life Fund administrators
to do the best
that they could.
But they have not only
failed little Miracle, they
have failed us because they
have caused grief to visit us
in a way that is reprehensible
and in a manner that
is as callous as the deviant
criminals who bring death
upon so many.
It is as though we are
cursed as a nation.
There is no sense of urgency,
not for those awaiting
trial in prison, or those
awaiting their pensions after
serving this country for
33 plus years.
We have become an insensitive
lot and we are
being governed by coldhearted
leaders to whom
empathy and pity are no
longer feelings that move
us to act with a sense of
alacrity.
I take no consolation
that Miracle’s pain is no
more when I know that as a
people we could have done
We failed Baby MIRACLE
better.
We failed little Miracle
and those who are responsible
should hang their heads
in shame.
If their actions are not
unusual then they do no justice
in the office they serve.
The only consolation I
will hold is when each and
every one of these administrators
is removed from
office to give our children
who are sick a fighting
chance to live.
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