Children’s Carnival

The Ministry of Education is having a programme to prepare students for Carnival and is advising students to “have a good time, but remember respect and responsibility are our watchwords.” Unfortunately, this preachy approach will have limited, if any, usefulness. Even in normal times, students would inevitably test the limits of adult authority. At Carnival, a festival whose very raison d’etre is rebellion and irresponsibility, the inherent contradiction of trying to promote restraint for Carnival may be too great for the type of programme being promoted by the Ministry. After all, even as it gives out these messages of respect and responsibility, the Ministry has also given its official stamp of approval for schools to participate in specific Carnival events — amongst them the National Junior Calypso and Soca Monarch competitions and the Junior Parade of the Bands.

The Ministry has contracted certain groups and individuals to carry the message to schools, using skits and lectures about the consequences of wrong choices. The series of events are designed, according to the press release, to ensure that “students have information to make the right choices”. That phrasing is unfortunately reminiscent of the Ministry’s abstinence-only programme and, since one of the issues being focused on is HIV/AIDS, we hope that the Ministry will not be taking a single-pronged approach to this crucial issue. If the Ministry acknowledges that young persons are going to be more likely to indulge in risky sexual behaviour during the Carnival period, then it must also acknowledge that merely telling them to refrain from having sex will not work in all cases. Those young people who do not listen to the abstinence message must therefore be given alternative information on other methods of preventing HIV/AIDS, such as the proper use of condoms.

The other Carnival challenge being tackled by the Ministry — abuse of alcohol and other drugs — is even more formidable. Parents and teachers have been enjoined to set an example for the students, but this appeal is likely to fail for the same reason outlined above — the nature of the festival itself. The majority of persons, adults and youths, who take part in Carnival do exercise restraint and responsibility. But this programme is supposed to reach those young persons who might cross the line, exposing themselves to injury or disease or other risks.

Such individuals are unlikely to undergo an attitude change, however, because of a programme of lectures and skits. What the Ministry is attempting to do is change the typical mindset associated with Carnival, and just telling young people about respect and responsibility and right choices won’t do it. Instead, the Ministry needs to create a programme that will emphasise the positive aspects of Carnival itself, so that young people become more interested in those areas than in the “wine and jam”. It is entirely possible to create lessons which incorporate calypso into the teaching of English and Civics; to have mask creation and wire-bending in the Art and Physics classes; and to examine fete promotion in a class on Economics. Not only would this make learning more interesting to the students, but it could also accomplish the same goals the Ministry is aiming at without overt preaching about respect and responsibility.