Post-Carnival trauma of schools

Various reasons were advanced by some parents for this practice including, “Nothing happens at school, teachers don’t show up (the records will prove otherwise) or even teachers telling children not to come to school.” All of these excuses are lame to say the least and serves as a cover for a bad habit that has become part of our national culture. Indeed, we seem to create long weekends at every opportunity to stay away from work or school.

How fortunate we are as a nation that our children can opt to simply stay away from school for three days, considering that it costs millions of taxpayers’ dollars to keep over 650 primary and secondary schools open for these days.

Consider that over 55 million children worldwide still have no access to schooling. What value do parents really place on their children’s education? What message are we sending to our children by this practice? What would be their expectation of employers when they become workers? Our love of fete and party has apparently taken precedence over everything else.

By this action we are boldly telling our children — our future adults — that it is alright to party to the point where you need several days to recover. One of our former prime ministers once reminded us that when the fete is over we must get back to work. We must set limits to our gaiety and fun as responsible adults so that the young ones among us will learn to emulate responsible behaviour.

In times gone by Ash Wednesday and beyond were normal school days, with parents dutifully ensuring that all children were ready for school work after the fun of Carnival.

Instead, we see thousands of parents accompanied by their children at the beach “cooling down” with no regard for the fact that their children should be in school.

Unfortunately, this culture extends to all so-called long weekends.

As the debate unfolded there were calls from many quarters to declare the entire Carnival week a holiday for schools. The thinking here is probably if you can’t beat them you might as well join them.

Surely this cannot be an acceptable argument if we are serious about creating citizens that are globally competitive.

Many citizens play mas, fete and party to their hearts’ delight but are back to work on Ash Wednesday and beyond with no decline in their levels of productivity. Yielding to this kind of thinking sends the wrong message to our future adults. It trivialises schooling to suit the whim and fancy of students, depreciating its value and premium.

These actions of parents must be condemned in the strongest manner.

Simply calling on parents to send their children to school on these days is not enough. Those in authority, including the media, must denounce this practice in the strongest possible manner, because all right-thinking citizens are fully cognizant that this practice is not a good aspect of our national culture.

It should be frowned upon and discouraged at every opportunity.

Not all customs that evolve are necessarily good for us as a society.

This aspect of our national psyche developed under our noses because of a combination of negative factors. It is not too late to correct it. TTUTA commends those teachers who turned out in their thousands to teach their charges post-Carnival.