Panday: Hazel confused about job

OPPOSITION LEADER Basdeo Panday yesterday said Education Minister Hazel Manning appears to be confused about what her governmental responsibilities are, and her absence from Trinidad and Tobago has caused a plethora of problems in the education sector. Manning is currently accompanying her husband, Prime Minister Patrick Manning, in the United States. The Mannings are due to return home today.

Panday told Newsday that Mrs Manning’s presence in the US reinforces the UNC’s longstanding view that it was “a bad move” on the Prime Minister’s part to appoint his wife as Education Minister. Referring to the ongoing Kalifa Logan controversy, and a blunder by the Education Ministry regarding the non-placement of at least five hearing impaired students who wrote the recent Secondary Entrance Assessment examinations, Panday said Mrs Manning’s absence from TT has exacerbated existing problems in the education system. Recalling the major focus which the former government placed on education, Panday lamented: “They (PNM) are really making a mess in education.”