‘Brightest’ students sent to ‘prestigious schools’

The source said the number of scholarships was not high because the “brightest” students were sent to “prestigious” schools.

“What goes on at Manzanilla for some reason, we do not get high performing students, they are more or less zoned. We don’t get the best but we tend to do the best with what we get,” the source said.

Manzanilla Secondary School received one additional scholarship for businesss studies accomplished by student Seema Joseph.

The source said because of migration, there was a certain culture they had to deal with.

“We have a lot of issues to deal with, but despite that, we are committed to our students. Our main objective is transforming the minds of the students. When they come in they are labelled stupid and poor.

“Our main objective is to reject labelling, no matter where it comes from. We have recognised that we do not get the high performing students, we don’t get to select teachers as in other schools. They get into the 90 percent range which hardly ever happens in a school like ours,” the source said.

The source said it was important that children believe in themselves and know that there was nothing they could not achieve.

“Once the students recognise the culture and our expectations, you find that they are more willing to work. This is the school where ordinary students do extraodinary things. It is not a perfect school, we have struggles like everybody else, but we keep moving forward. We address them and keep moving forward,” the source said.