Tewarie warns of brain drain

This was the warning sounded yesterday by University of the West Indies (UWI) principal Bhoendradatt Tewarie. He delivered the feature address marking the 25th anniversary of the San Fernando Secondary Comprehensive School, where he told teachers and pupils that if expansion continues to occur in the tertiary education sector, there is an urgent need to put plans in place.

Those plans, he added, must involve both the national and regional economy, in order to absorb graduates.

“There must be a system in place to absorb the graduates, otherwise we would have challenges manifesting before our eyes,” Tewarie said. He suggested that a means of absorbing the new labour, was for the economy to veer away from the dependency on oil and gas sectors.

Saying that parents played a key factor in the education of their children, Tewarie said that it was impossible to build a society on merit without social balance.

“Education cannot be confined to academics. We do not want a society that limits the freedom of the talented,” he noted.

Delivering greetings at the function which was held at the Gulf City auditorium, School Supervisor III, Clifford Bullock Bullock, called on the administration to revise the school development plan and to identify the needs of the children.

Members of the teaching staff and retirees were all presented with plaques for the significant contribution they made over the years to the development of San Fernando Secondary Comprehensive School.