This was the position Dr Lovell Francis, Minister in the Ministry of Education, shared in his feature address at the opening of the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago’s new, main campus on Pierre Connector Road in Chaguanas.

“After our last examination we had between 2,500 and 3,000 students who did not score over 30 percent in Maths and Language. That is a national crisis, that is a bigger crisis than the prices of oil and gas.” Francis said the subpar performance of 2,500 out of 18,000 students who sat the examination is a “matter of grave concern for” the Ministry of Education.

Another concern he shared was for schools in the coastal regions of Moruga, Sangre Grande, Cedros, and Toco, to name a few, who have consistently underperformed.

Francis did not give an explanation for the underpformance of these schools, but implored COSTAATT to commit to having a presence in these areas to take up “the back end” of the education system so that all persons – especially those who are marginalised by the system – could achieve their maximum potential. “What we are doing now is not treating schools differently but acknowledging that some schools require additional support, additional help, additional screening for students,” said Francis, “and we are putting programmes in place to really ensure that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Francis said the difficult economic times has trained the Ministry’s focus on vital programmes that will have impact on the education system at the expense of more “grandiose projects.” “For example, the School improvement project in Laventille, the Form One project, clinical supervision for teachers throughout the country because we are also assessing the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom.

The things that are required to ensure quality education are what we will do primarily.” The Minister said Education in TT is still “colonial” and it is about time we took off the “colonial shoes” and crafted a system that is suited to us.

“We are hoping that by next week our kids will be out. An official (from the Ministry) said tentatively, classes will begin on Monday at the community centre. I am no expert, but based on what I am seeing, a lot of work has to be done. Hopefully by next week, everything will be put into place,” said Daniel.

The decision to house the estimated 292 students at the centre came one day after students joined their parents in a fiery protest in front of the school building located at Oliverie Drive to demand a new school.

The Penal Community Centre is located nearby at Clarke Road.

Due to the school’s dilapidated conditions, only the Standard Five students have been attending classes at the St Dominic’s RC Parish Hall located across the road from the school. As such, all other students stayed away from classes since the start of the new school term since the church hall cannot accommodate the entire population.

Yesterday, the PTA noted that she and other parents were happy for the temporary relocation.

“At this stage, we do not know how long we will be there. We have no indication whatsoever if or when construction works are to start on a new school. We are glad to get the kids to go to classes and we want to make sure they are comfortable and safe. Works are to be done such as proper lighting, covers for the drains and extra toilets at the centre,” Daniel added.

At the fiery protest on Tuesday, the parents complained that the school was plagued with problems such as lack of proper infrastructure.

The protesting parents had vowed to take their protest to the Ministry’s head offices in Port-of-Spain in the event Ministry officials fail to offer alternative arrangements.

Daniel yesterday confirmed that “for now” there will no protest action.

Classes for the two Standard Five classes continued yesterday at the Church Hall.

This is according to Ashram Deoraj, Director of School Supervision, Ministry of Education in response to concerns raised by Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Ayanna Webster-Roy and Senator Rodger Samuel about monitoring the safety of students using the service and the road worthiness of sub contracted vehicles. The issues were expressed at yesterday’s PAC hearing at the Office of the Parliament on concerns of the Office of the Auditor General in relation to the public accounts of the ministry.

Acting Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education Angela Sinaswee-Gervais, said that the ministry depends on safety officers and principals at schools to provide information in relation to the service provided by the sub contracted maxi taxis. “We don’t have anyone at head office in the ministry to do this. We expect that the schools with the transport that comes into the school on a daily basis, would be able to raise red flags with us if there are issues with a particular maxi or maxis. But we really do not have the capacity at the ministry level to go and do that,” she said.

While the agreement in place was not written in black and white before, she said, a contract was in the draft as to what will be PTSC’s and the ministry’s roles. As soon as the draft is completed it will be sent to PTSC’s attorneys for comments.

Asked by Webster-Roy what the ministry was doing to ensure that their contract and subcontracts were being executed to ensure that students are safe traveling on the road, Deoraj said, the ministry does not have a particular person to verify the number of children using the maxi taxis on a daily basis.

The ministry pays for the number of trips, and not by the number of students using the service, he said.

However, based on information provided by the schools, he said, the ministry would be able to say how many children use the service.

Meanwhile, Samuel said that during one of his visits to a school in Trinidad’s north coast, he ventured into one of the maxi taxis hired by the PTSC and verified what students told him about travelling in the vehicle and seeing the road below them through the damaged floor of the vehicle.

Deoraj said, the ministry’s agreement with the PTSC includes road worthiness of vehicles being sub contracted.

“However, if there are cases where the road worthiness is questionable,” he said, “They should be reported and we will act on it.” When it examined the processes by which PTSC subcontracts maxi-taxis, he said, “the ministry is comfortable with that relationship at the moment.”

Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh made the award to Eastern Engineering and Marketing Services who filed a lawsuit seeking outstanding payment for work done.

Eastern Engineering had entered into separate contracts to provide services for SAUTT, which included the extension of a multi-purpose building at Camp Cumuto in 2008, provision of aggregate in 2009, as well as civil engineering and geo technical work in 2010, for a total of $11 million. The contracting firm was paid a portion of the sum owed, but up to 2012 when it filed its claim, it was still owed $3.3 million.

In an oral judgment yesterday, Boodoosingh noted that the State made “extraordinary assertions” in its defence that required evidence.

It was the State’s contention that SAUTT was not a legal entity and did not have the authority to make contracts or enter into contractual obligations on behalf of the State in any way. It was also denied that SAUTT had the authority to act on behalf of the Ministry of National Security nor was it admitted that the persons with whom Eastern Engineering was contracted, had the power to enter into any agreement and called on the engineering firm to prove its case at trial.

But Boodoosingh noted that the evidence supplied by Eastern Engineering to support its claim, which included copies of cheques paid to it and invoices sent to SAUTT, was proper and fitting to grant judgment at the pre-trial stage of the case as the State failed to substantiate its defence.

Boodoosingh said it could not be that SAUTT did not have the capacity to enter into contracts as it was utilising State funds.

SAUTT was established by the Patrick Manning regime in November 2003 and disbanded in August 2011 under the People’s Partnership government.

Johnson had been for the past month on trial in the San Fernando High Court before Justice Althea Alexis-Windsor, for the murder in which he was alleged to have shot Wilkinson in the head on a night between May 2 and 3.

Before a 12-member jury, the State led evidence from 21 witnesses in which it was alleged that both accused and victim had attended the Borough Day celebrations in Point Fortin. State Attorney Lyons Edwards, led evidence from the police complainant, that sometime during the night, police officers discovered the body of Wilkinsonin dumped in a garbage bag in an oil catchment reservation area in Fyzabad. An autopsy revealed that the victim suffered a single gunshot wound to the head. The prosecution relied on identification evidence of the accused Johnson, to prove its case.

Attorney Rekha Ramjit, instructed by her daughter attorney Gina Ramjohn, led evidence from the accused Johnson who testified that on the night the prosecution alleged that he had been at the scene of the murder, he had in fact worked as a security guard. After an hour and a half, the foreman announced that the accused was not guilty as charge. Attorney Ramjit said that her confidence in trial by jury was restored yesterday, because she had never seen jurors pay such rapt attention in listening to the evidence in the case.

In fact, Nelson yesterday threw his hat into the International Soca Monarch (ISM) ring, competing as a contestant for the first time ever in this format, and drawing singing position No. 59 at the draw yesterday at the NLCB booth, Queen’s Park Oval, Port-of-Spain.

The semis will be held on February 5 at the Arima Velodrome.

The draw yesterday saw a number of artistes and their representatives pulling for the line-up position at the semi-final.

The drawing saw Omardath Maraj pull number one and he will be performing his popular Chutney song ‘Balkisoon’ which is a ditty about a hot-blooded fellow who pulls a tune in a wedding and ends up running away with the Dulahin (wife). The semis will also see Jason ‘Linkyfirst’ Henriques perform his popular ‘Rock and Come In’, at number three.

The calypso legend whose discography includes Disco Daddy, King Liar, Mih Lover among other notables, will deliver Sugar Mammy at the semi-finals. Asked why he decided to enter this year’s competition, the evergreen Nelson said: “It is a pleasure just to be entering Soca Monarch.

At my time to this time, it is a blessing. I am looking forward for many more and doing the best I can.

They encouraged me.

They said you have to do it one more time, so that made me feel I could do it.” The event is also being jointly marketed by the latest addition to the ISM team, ScorAch Music led by Kwesi Hopkinson ( Hypa Hoppa) who said he hopes the collaboration will fix some of the issues with the annual competition.

He added that the competition has come a long way and this collaboration is meant to drive further growth of the competition. Scorch Music’s addition is going to take the competition to another level. He said soca monarch could not be allowed to die. He added that the outside world was looking more and more at the Caribbean for its content

Senior Magistrate Siumongal Ramsaran, presiding in the Rio Claro Magistrates’ court, sentenced the 32-year-old ex-policeman in which he ordered him to pay a fine of $12,000 each for possession of the gun and ammunition.

The police officer was charged during the limited State of Emergency imposed in certain parts of the country in 2011 by the former People’s Partnership government, to tackle certain issues of crime especially as it related to a plot to kill then Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

The policeman was charged on Wednesday August, 24, 2011, at Cunapo Southern Main Road, Navet Village, Tabaquite, and the case came up before magistrate Ramsaran in the Rio Claro Magistrates’ court. The policeman pleaded not guilty to the charges. State Attorney Krishna Jaglal, led evidence from Corporal Narvin Maharaj, who testified that together with PC Rambhajan, they received certain information and sometime during the night, they boarded a Public Transport Service Corporation’s bus along the Cunapo Southern Main Road. They searched the bus and saw the suspended police officer seated.

Cpl Maharaj testified that they approached him and after questioning, searched a bag he was carrying and discovered a Ruger-made revolver which contained five of rounds.

State Attorney Jaglal led evidence from Maharaj as well as PC Rambhajan, who testified that they made records in the station diary of their discovery, the arrest, and when they had taken the police officer into the station.

The police officer who pleaded not guilty, denied the allegation and testified that the police complainant was part of a plan with other police officers, to set him up. State Attorney Jaglal yesterday submitted, however, that the evidence of the police officers were unshakeable and that their core testimony were unchallenged.

In giving his ruling yesterday, Magistrate Ramsaran upheld Jaglal’s submission and found the officer guilty. He fined him $12,000 for possession of the gun and $12,000 for possession of the ammunition. The sentences are to run concurrently.

He was ordered to pay $5,000 by the end of next week and the balance within three months or in default three years in jail.

“Calypso continues suffer at the hands of those who are supposed to nurture, protect, love and promote it,” Luta said. “It is like a child being abused by its own parents. TUCO once again drove another nail in the coffin of Calypso by the decision to have each contestant sing only one song in the finals of the National Calypso Monarch Competition 2017. How can you change the rules in the middle of the game?” In a release earlier this month, TUCO president Lutalo Masimba stated: (At) an extraordinary general membership meeting on Saturday January 7, 2017, among the decisions taken regarding the 2017 National Calypso Monarch Competition were: Contestants will be required to enter one (1) song only for the competition as in previous years. However, in the Final stage of competition only one (1) song will be considered.

It is therefore a one (1) song competition.

A livid Luta who won the title in 1994 and 2006, added: “And as if to say that is not bad enough, TUCO is also saying that you can only sing the song you registered on or before January 27 2017.

Gone are the days when one could expect to hear a new song about some recent development in society or “pull one from the bag” That, according to “TUCO logics” would encourage more people to come out on Carnival Sunday Night to hear the same songs they heard in the tents, semi-finals and categories finals.” Luta questioned: “What is the philosophy behind the “Categories Finals? Why is it necessary? Why spend money that you don’t have on something that you don’t need? It just does not make sense.” The veteran bard ended by saying that while the majority of TUCO members are quite happy with things as they are, “there are intelligent people all over the world looking at us and I Morel Peters (King Luta) don’t want to be counted among those who participated in the killing of calypso.”

Finance Minister Colm Imbert, hit the Opposition by saying it’s not the first time heads of expenditure have been varied, as running a budget is a dynamic situation. He chided, “There must be more substance in contributions, or we are just talking for talking’s sake. I beg to move!” Otherwise in reply to urgent questions, Acting Senate Leader, Paula Gopee-Scoon, said a recent oil-spill at La Brea had been fully cleaned up and had caused no environmental damage.

She also said that in a recent case of a man caught in the toilet of a southern girls primary school, no exposure had taken place, razor wire has been installed and extra security been hired by the Parent Teachers Association (PTA).

Later, in reply to Opposition Senator Wade Mark’s motion on the adjournment Culture Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly confirmed the National Carnival Commission (NCC) is organising the ticketing and revenues of this Carnival’s steelband and calypso shows. While Mark had said a 1997 Cabinet Note had said each interest group would run its own shows, Gadsby-Dolly said such a policy contravenes the NCC Act, unless amended by the relevant Attorney General which had never happened

Another charge alleged that he received the money from the motorist on November, 7, 2005. The two charges stemmed from an allegation that Siew had attempted to overtake a line of traffic along the Southern Main Road, Caroni, when he was allegedly stopped by Maharaj.

Siew testified that he was warned of intended prosecution and that when he had driven off, he received a telephone call from Maharaj, requesting $500. Siew told the judge and jury about a sting operation that was set-up by members of the Anti-Corruption Bureau and a meeting point that was pre-arranged for him to hand over the money. He said he handed over the $200 to Maharaj in front of a store in Couva and when he had done so, two police officers approached Maharaj and placed him in a vehicle. The trial continued yesterday.

State Attorneys Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal and Sarah De Silva are prosecuting while attorney Shaun Teekasingh is defending Maharaj.