The band scored 277 points after delivering an ecstatic version of Jovan James’ “Good Morning” arranged by Carlton “Zanda” Alexander.

The band had pan aficionados enjoying that feel-good moment when it played last Tuesday before the judges.

They were almost flawless with the execution of the arrangement.

However, according to ‘facebook so-called pan experts’, they saw all bands vying for second position behind Massy All Stars. But while that band gave a highly spirited performance of the hugely popular “Full Extreme” by Ultimate Rejects featuring MX Prime, those “experts” were just not in sync with the qualified judges who in fact placed the band second with 275 points.

Republic Bank Exodus amassed 274 points for third position after clinically executing Pelham Goddard and Terrence BJ Marcelle’s arrangement of “Good Morning”.

One point behind was Phase II Pan Groove with 273 points. They played “Red, White & Black” composed and arranged by Len “Boogsie” Sharpe, while bptt Renegades, with 271 points took fifth spot with “Good Morning”, arranged by Duvonne Stewart.

In the medium band category, reigning champions Pan Elders, was adjudged winners with 263 points after playing “Roti & Talkarie”, a Michael Osouna/Mohan Paltoo composition arranged by Duvonne Stewart.

In second place with 259 points was Pan Demonium with their Akua Leith arrangement of Aaron St. Louis’ “Cheers To Life”, while tying for third were Valley Harps with “Total Disorder” (Kelvin Pope) arranged by Michelle Huggins- Watts, and Curepe Scherzando with a Yohan Popwell arrangement of “Stranger” by Winston Bailey.

Both bands received 255 points.

Draw for playing positions in the two categories will be conducted at CTV today at 7.30 am.

The results are as follows:

LARGE CONVENTIONAL BANDS
1. Desperadoes………………………………………..Good Morning………………………. 277
2. Massy Trinidad All Stars…………………………Full Extreme…………………………. 275
3. Republic Bank Exodus…………………………..Good Morning………………………. 274
4. Phase II Pan Groove……………………………..Red, White & Black……………….. 273
5. bptt Renegades…………………………………….Good Morning………………………. 271
6. FC Supernovas…………………………………….Rumble In The Jungle……………. 269
7. Caribbean Airlines Invaders……………………Full Extreme…………………………. 268
8. PCS Nitrogen Silver Stars………………………We Are Conquerors………………. 265
9. MHTL Starlift…………………………………………Good Morning………………………. 264
10. T&TEC Tropical Angel Harps………………..Single………………………………….. 263
11. Birdsong…………………………………………….Pan Kingdom……………………….. 262
12. NLCB Fonclaire…………………………………..Panorama Soldier…………………. 261
13. Skiffle ………………………………………………..Good Morning………………………. 259
14. La Brea Nightingales……………………………We Are Conquerors………………. 239
MEDIUM CONVENTIONAL BANDS
1. Pan Elders……………………………………………Roti And Talkarie…………………… 263
2. Pan-Demonium…………………………………….Cheers To Life………………………. 259
3. NLCB Valley Harps………………………………..Total Disorder……………………….. 255
3. Curepe Scherzando………………………………Stranger………………………………. 255
5. NLCB Buccooneers……………………………….Rhythm Run Ting………………….. 253
5. Melodians…………………………………………….Umbaya……………………………….. 253
7. Courts Sound Specialists of L/tille……………Dangerous…………………………… 252
7. Petrotrin Katzenjammers………………………..Good Morning………………………. 252
9. Western Stars Philharmonics………………….Stranger………………………………. 250
10. Arima Angel Harps……………………………….Far From Finished…………………. 249
11. NGC Steel Xplosion……………………………..Wet Me Down……………………….. 248
12. Sforzata……………………………………………..Ducking……………………………….. 247
12. NGC Couva Joylanders……………………….Band of the Year…………………… 247
14. Pamberi……………………………………………..Gee Gee Ree……………………….. 244

Equally, if the State fails to resolve the impasse that has broken out between the association and the principal of the School for Blind Children it will find itself accused of breaching the Constitution which enshrines the right to education for all regardless of background.

The situation at the school has been fraught for the last few months. At one stage, an association official was arrested by police for purportedly trespassing on premises he insisted he had a right to be on. Up to last Friday, the doors to the school remained closed due to an impasse between the association and school principal Derrick Mundy.

In a press release on Friday, the association advised of its decision to close the school which is located at the ironically-named Pax Vale, Santa Cruz.

The school has a long and storied history and has produced many outstanding individuals. It is unthinkable that the education of a segment of the population should be held back due to what appears to be strife and bacchanal. Some people simply do not like the principal and are, therefore, intent on taking up the powers seemingly given to others by the law.

What are the true powers of the association, which was given the school in 1951? What are the powers of the State? Let us sort these issues out.

For any resolution, the Ministry of Education must intervene.

Regardless of the legal powers held by each party, the association and the school cannot be at loggerheads like this. The longer the situation exists, the more students will suffer.

One of the most outstanding individuals associated with the school was the late Maurice Connor.

In 2001, he diagnosed problems in the sector of education for the blind that, with hindsight, look like premonitions of today’s impasse.

“Some people may feel that the changes and improvements in the education of the blind and visually impaired have not come rapidly enough during the 86-year existence of organised welfare work for the blind in this country,” he once wrote in a foreword to a history of blind education in the country.

“After 11 years as a student at the Institute for the Blind and 34 years on the staff of the School for Blind Children, Santa Cruz, I can understand these feelings. This state of affairs is not due to any acts of repression by the committees concerned.

It is rather a reflection of the attitude of the society to the disabled: for example, its misguided patronage and excessively custodial approach to the work during the first period,” Connor wrote, adding: “There must be a more proactive approach to the education of the blind and visually impaired that will allow many of them to become independent, productive citizens of the community.” These sentiments, almost two decades ago, still ring true today.

The deeper issue is the State’s overall approach to the education of the blind and to the management of disabilities in all spheres of life.

For example, the State has boasted of installing teachers trained in handling dyslexic students. Yet the experience of the ordinary man in the street is not a good one. Often teachers are trained but not properly so. Students who have been identified as dyslexic sometimes do not have their needs addressed. It has fallen on NGOs to go to schools to push sensitisation.

Similarly, when it comes to the State’s handling of education for the blind, we cannot detect enough progress.

It’s time to restore the School for Blind Children to its rightful place in an overall system that is sensitive to the needs of all. The first step is to resolve the sparring. The second is to improve infrastructure. And the third is to implement an overall disabilities vision.

Current systems of schooling are based on certain assumptions. It assumes that students would primarily come from the middle and upper classes and thus possess a certain degree of social capital.

When students attempt to access the educational opportunity in a system where all are assumed to possess the same level of social capital, those that don’t are immediately placed at a distinct disadvantage.

There are two main reasons why students underachieve at school.

Underachieving students usually present a portrait that is easily discernible to the trained professional.

Some students have learning disabilities, which oftentimes can go undetected, leaving the child to struggle with school and ultimately believing he/she is a failure. This leads to low self-esteem and this experience can negatively impact such people for the rest of their lives. Despite the best efforts of the Ministry of Education, students who possess learning disabilities are not afforded the kind of attention they deserve.

On the other hand, student underachievement can be the outcome of social deficits. This can begin with parents not instilling in children from a tender age the immense value of education. If children are not told very forcefully that education represents opportunity for a better life, they can’t discern the relevance of schooling and thus the need for them to work hard to succeed.

Education must be seen in their eyes as a top priority family goal, and all resources, effort and energy must be channelled toward its acquisition, failing which schooling becomes meaningless.

Parents also have an obligation to ensure that their children are educated for school, possessing a sense of self-discipline and self-control.

They must impose/enforce limits of behaviour on them. This home preparation is critical to success at school.

Underachieving children usually have a poor understanding of rules of engagement, not appreciating that schooling requires them to share a common space with others.

A lack of self-respect, disrespect for those in authority and a disregard for the rights of others usually characterise the behaviour of many underachieving students.

Parents who do not make the time to spend with their children force them to feel abandoned and neglected. Their emotional quotient becomes very low, for they feel that no one cares. Very often, this is the root cause of anti-social behaviour, whereby the children are simply crying out for attention.

This emotional deficit prevents the child from focusing on academic work, because basic emotional needs are not being met.

Spending quality time with children means talking to them about their likes, dislikes, friends, school life, daily experiences and the like.

This allows parents to truly know their children and bond with them.

Children then feel a sense of value and importance – their existence being validated.

Parents must allow and enable their children to be students at home, ensuring that the efforts of the school are complimented at home. This is the premise of homework.

Children must be able to sit quietly, minus the distractions of televisions, music and mobile phones and engage in a specified amount of academic work, including routine reading. Quality time spent with children will translate into academic success. Parents must control the range of influences on their children. Parents must also collaborate with their children to set and pursue goals and targets, demanding that they be achieved through hard work, perseverance, dedication and commitment. Any attempt to address student underachievement must compensate for some of these social deficits to enable all to have a real opportunity at school success.

Grieving mother Guridai Bipram, 72, of Navet Village, Rio Claro had to be restrained as undertakers removed her son’s remains.

Guridai said she had not seen her second child in the last two years. An autopsy will today clarify if Bipram’s death was accidental or murder.

According to reports, a week ago, Bipram who was a father of two of Guayaguayare Road, was involved in an altercation with another man over a bag of dasheen and threats were made on his life. A police report stated that at about 8.30 am yesterday, officers from Mayaro Fire Station under Fire Sub Station Officer Stewart responded to a report of a fire. Officers of the Rio Claro Police Station also visited the scene. Bipram’s body was discovered among the ruins.

Yesterday, Bipram’s weeping girlfriend Anjanie Balgobin expressed shock over his death as she told reporters she left him at his home on Sunday at 5 pm and he was in a happy mood. “He was good, just yesterday we ate together and I leave him just after 5 pm to go home,” Balgobin said.

“Is someone who do him that wickedness. Last week, he went to drop a bag of dasheen in the market and had an altercation with a man who hit him (Bipram) near his eye.” Balgobin said the man threatened to kill Bipram.

The threat was reported to the Rio Claro Police and officers warned the other man about making these threats. Balgobin said Bipram was extremely careful and never left open flames in his wooden house.

Management of the security firm, whose officer was involved in the incident which left Sambury critically injured, has offered to donate blood to him.

Sambury, 38, of Naparima Mayaro Road, New Grant was shot in the stomach, arm and foot by the guard who was on duty at the supermarket. He underwent emergency surgery yesterday at San Fernando General Hospital where he remains warded.

According to police, Sambury was shot three times outside the New Grant supermarket at 8 am during a confrontation at the entrance to the establishment. His brother Hayden Hamilton said: “We met them (company officials) at the supermarket and a senior officer told us they already sent three security officers to donate blood to Pomba. We hope they really did as promised.” According to relatives, Sambury who lives a stone’s throw away from the supermarket, went to purchase the bread for a villager.

He often ran errands for the villager. Relatives said they heard gunshots and on investigating, found Sambury bleeding.

“I ran down the road only to see the officer still holding his gun and Pomba standing up, bleeding,” relative Ancil Alfonso said.

“He ended up taking a crate and lying down on it in front the grocery door until help came.” Relatives admitted Sambury has a criminal record but since his release from prison over a year ago, he has remained within the law. They insisted he did not go to rob the supermarket.

“The grocery was already open for business so I don’t know how they could say that he was trying to break into the business place,” Alfonso said. Officers of the Princes Town Police Station are investigating.

In the first incident, a 13-year-old standard Five student of a primary school in East Trinidad reported to her 70-yearold grandfather that on January 23, she boarded a PH taxi to take her to school.

On nearing the school, the driver whom she usually travelled with began fondling her legs. A report was made to the Valencia Police and WPC Brooks arrested the suspect and took him to the Valencia Police Station. On Sunday the man was charged with two counts of sexual touching.

In another incident, a 30-yearold Mayaro man who was found in an abandoned house having sexual intercourse with a 13-yearold school girl was charged with two counts of sexual penetration.

Last week Wednesday, police received a tip-off that a man was seen entering the abandoned house in the Rio Claro area with a girl dressed in school uniform.

When officers responded to the report they found the two engaging in sexual intercourse. The man was detained and the school girl was medically examined by the District Medical Officer.

According to reports, the store was secured on Sunday afternoon and at 8 am yesterday, supervisor Leanna Richardson discovered a hole had been cut in the roof. It is believed that a hand-held blow torch was used to cut open the safe to access the cash. Officers of the Belmont Police Station were alerted and went to the scene where they lifted several finger prints.

Police believe the bandits spent a considerable amount of time cutting open the safe on the premises before gaining access to the money. They are also believed to have fled the scene via the same route they entered. A check revealed that no other valuables were stolen. Investigators believe the robbery was an inside job and several employees were being questioned yesterday.

Investigators were also searching for CCTV footage from residents who live around the store to assist them in their investigations.

Yesterday, detective Constable Dopwell and others received key information and Newsday understands a breakthrough is forthcoming.

This was the claim made by the parents of a schoolboy who stands accused of pushing nineyear- old Tristan Khan to the ground last week and then jumping up and down on his right arm, while shouting that he is a ninja turtle.

Yesterday, Tristan’s parents met with the schoolboy’s parents at the Mayaro Government Primary School in the presence of the school’s principal, two teachers and officials from the Education Ministry. Speaking with Newsday later, Sareefa Ali said the meeting was inconclusive as her son Tristan’s version of events was hotly disputed by the other schoolboy’s parents.

She said that the other parents took her to task for posting their son’s name online and she apologised to them for doing so, admitting she did so while in a fit of anger. Ali said that the parents claimed their son was left traumatised by the entire incident.

Ali said if the alleged bully was so traumatised, one could imagine the state of her son’s mind now as his arm is in a bandage and it is not known if he will ever have full, normal use of his right hand – which he writes with.

She said the others parents became very angry during the meeting insisting the act was an “accident” and they were unapologetic.

Ali said she left the meeting feeling no better than she felt before it and is now turning the entire matter over to her attorney.

She said former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has reached out to her, offering to seek their legal interests. Efforts to reach Education Ministry officials for a comment yesterday proved futile.

Instead, a man is expected to appear before a Siparia magistrate today charged with her murder.

Yesterday, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard SC gave instructions to Region Three Homicide officers to charge the 36-year-old man of Quarry Village for Simms’ murder.

Last week Wednesday, Simms’ body was pulled from a shallow grave in Santa Flora, a short distance away from the suspect’s home four days after she was reported missing after leaving her Penal home for a job interview.

CCTV surveillance video at a restaurant showed her leaving the establishment with the suspect.

The suspect’s own relatives would later confirm that Simms visited his home the very day (two Saturdays ago) she went missing.

When Simms did not return home, a report was made to the police the following day. As the search continued for Nadia , the suspect was advised by his relatives to give himself up to police.

A country-wide search by police, soldiers, cadaver dogs, relatives and hunters ended last Wednesday when Simms’ decomposing body was found in a shallow grave in some bushes in Santa Flora. Police were alerted by hunters who came across the shallow grave with sections of Nadia’s body protruding from the loose earth. A report was made to the police and a team of officers including detectives from the Homicide Investigations Bureau went to the scene.

Yesterday, a magistrate warned the father Wayne Griffith, 41, who re-appeared in court that he is not to visit the home or try to communicate with the boy, nor his mother.

He is also not to visit his 14-year-old daughter whom he is also charged with assaulting.

Griffith was charged with attempting to murder his son following an incident at the family’s home in Cocoyea Village last week Monday in which he is alleged to have chopped the boy, with a meat cleaver between the front of the head and the forehead.

He was also charged with assaulting his common-law wife and 14-year-old daughter.

The husband had been remanded into custody by senior magistrate Nanette Forde-John to re-appear yesterday. The charges stemmed from an incident in which an argument had erupted at the family’s home and the wife, son and daughter were allegedly attacked.

Yesterday, Magistrate Forde-John ordered bail of $75,000 for Griffith to be approved by a Clerk of the Peace, after court prosecutor Cleyon Seedan, told her the accused had no previous conviction.

Magistrate Forde-John ordered that Griffith report to the Mon Repos Police Station on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week, between the hours of 7 am to 7 pm. She also told him that he is not to visit the home, nor attempt to make any physical contact with the victims. The case was adjourned to March 3.