Indiscipline down in east PoS schools

“I am pleased to say and to report that when we have done our analysis, we have found that the incidents of indiscipline and violence among our schools is greatly diminished in the PoS/Laventille/Morvant area.” Garcia made the statement at the launch of the Foundation for the Upliftment and Empowerment of Laventille (East Port-of-Spain) (FUEL) spelling competition yesterday at Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of- Spain.

He said the competition was part of the School Improvement Project which aims to improve literacy and numeracy, improve the physical infrastructure of schools, increase parental involvement, and improve discipline in schools.

Speaking to the students in the audience he said, “We sincerely believe that you are the change and certainly change will come to the Morvant / Laventille community.” He added the idea of the spelling competition was to improve the communication skills of students.

Therefore, in order to complement the competition, next month the Ministry would launch a programme seeking to improve the handwriting skills of students across the country.

Recalling how the idea for the competition came about, Laventille West MP Fitzgerald Hinds said he met some primary school students who were excellent in school, especially in spelling and reading.

He realised they could not be the only ones with “beauty, innocence, and potential.” Therefore, in collaboration with FUEL, he decided to organise the competition to harness that potential, where children could develop new friendships and experiences to last them for a lifetime.

“We know that Laventille is a wonderful place with a wonderful experience, and bad and evil only prevails when the good like yo, the parents like you, the guardians like you, the children like you, sit and watch and do nothing. This is our something,” said Hinds.

The theme of the competition is Out of a Barrack Yard, a National Festival Bloomed.

Calypsonian Dr Hollis “Chalkdust” Liverpool gave a brief history of how Carnival emerged from the makeshift settlements made by slaves in East PoS, Laventille and Belmont after the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1834.

He described the conditions of the barracks, explained how the various Carnival traditions arose from the Africans, and sang calinda or stick-fighting songs, as well as excerpts from the songs of other calypsonians.

He said education was different in each country because the culture of each country was different.

He said many politicians, lawyers, doctors and other professionals say there were educated but knew nothing of their culture.

“You are not educated unless you bathe in the refinement of your culture,” Liverpool told the audience.

The competition would be open to children ages five to nine years who live in the catchment area inside Belmont Boys’ RC School, Gloster Lodge Moravian Primary School, St Hilda’s Government Primary School, Escallier Anglican Primary School, and St Barb’s Government Primary School.

Preliminaries begin on June 10, with the semifinals scheduled for June 17, and the finals for June 24.