The project was an initiative by Mohan Mahabirsingh, whose mission it is to modernise and upgrade the classrooms since they are in dire need of repairs and upgrades.

The school hired designer Kemal Manickchand for the model project. As was his intention, Manickchand re-designed the classroom to be a SMART classroom, to help the students compete with the today’s technological advancements.

His concept was to merge the early sophistication of top colleges such as Cambridge and Oxford Universities and modernise with the technological advancements while still maintaining a feeling of historical and traditional value.

To achieve this intermingling of eras, the walls were painted with varying shades of blue, the ceilings were capped off to create clean linear look to the room and hide the infrastructure that was previously exposed.

Oak wood flooring with interlocking tongue and groove were then installed for a smooth clean finish to give that traditional feeling to the room.

Three boards were installed for use by the teachers and students alike. Two of them were white boards and the other, a cork board. Manickchand reasoned, the white boards eliminate the need for dusty chalk materials while the traditional cork board still works for pinning any printed materials.

At the rear of the classroom, wooden cupboards were built into the walls for storage of students’ personal items and new and quieter, sleeklined A/C units were installed. The classroom is also deemed safer, with new windows replacing the glass louvres, and blinds were installed to create a “focus room”.

New teak and glass doors were also installed, allowing for teachers to monitor the classrooms from the outside.

The model classroom serves as a representation of what the school hopes to accomplish to all other classrooms to improve the learning of all students, a task that requires funding from ongoing donations.

At the formal launch on July 4, apart from Carmona, former prime minister Basdeo Panday; and also David Manning, representing his late father the late prime minister Patrick Manning; and Anthony Amos Lucky, United Nations International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, all alumni, were also in attendance and got a first-hand feel of the new model classroom.

Since we are from Curepe, quite naturally we passed through Farm Road in St Joseph. However, we could see the standstill traffic on the Eastern Main Road (EMR) from where we sat in the car.

Therefore I merged onto the Priority Bus Route from Farm Road, quite cognizant of the fact that there were police on the bus route.

It should be noted that we are Muslims, therefore all the paperwork had to be in order for us to secure the body to be buried in a timely manner.

Additionally, the deceased did not have the newest birth certificate, adding uncertainty to the issuance of the death certificate.

On nearing the intersection to the EWMSC we were stopped by an officer and asked why were we on the Bus Route.

I related the situation to him. The officer then aggressively told me to pull over because he was fed up of hearing that “Mt Hope story.” I again related our plight to the officer, to which he replied, “Is that an emergency?” He then pointed to the EMR and said I could have used that route instead.

All this while my mother-in-law, who was now heartbroken by the tragic news of her mother’s passing, was beginning to cry hysterically in the back seat.

The officer then literally screamed at me for my driving permit and insurance.

Shocked at his rude and discourteous behaviour at our unfortunate situation, I told him not to be unreasonable.

The officer shouted and ran up to the car and made me repeat myself three more times. He then yelled “ticket.” After issuing the ticket, the officer proceeded to make me turn around and head back to Farm Road and through the bumper-tobumper traffic on the EMR.

My point of writing is that while all these public relations efforts are being made by the Police Service to paint the police as people friendly, officers like that constable are dismantling these efforts fast. So much for protecting and serving with pride.

WASIM ALI Curepe

The sentence imposed on Kelvin Deonarine of Dumphries Road, La Romaine brought tears to his common-law wife Bhagwande Boodoo- Deonarine, their son Andrew and his (Deonarine) daughterin- law Neisha Sonny, who were all in court.

The sentence was imposed by Senior Magistrate Cheryl-Ann Antoine.

Deonarine initially pleaded not guilty to the offence committed on April 18 and was granted $150,000 bail.

Family members were unable to post the bail and Deonarine stayed in jail until yesterday, when he was brought to the courthouse.

Court prosecutor Cleyon Seedan, related to Magistrate Antoine how Kheoraj Deonarine secured his home at Dumphries Road on April 18 and on returning, discovered the items missing.

Seven days after, San Fernando CID officers arrested Deonarine who confessed to breaking and entering the house. The court heard that on being arrested, Deonarine said, “Officer, I went and opened the place with keys I have for the house. I eat the cake and interfered with the camera that I self install.” Magistrate Antoine asked Deonarine what he did with the gold band and gold rings, valued $4,300, and the accused said he threw them away.

The accused told the court that Kheoraj owed him money for installation of security cameras.

Attorney Subhas Panday has since filed an appeal on behalf of Deonarine, on the ground of severity of sentence.

He will today apply for bail for the accused.

In many ways, the meeting is a repeat of history. A similar meeting took place last year.

And long before the current Government administration, the Office of the Prime Minister has often hosted the Opposition.

Indeed, a similar exercise was undertaken by Persad-Bissessar during her tenure as prime minister.

And before both Rowley and Persad-Bissessar, several prime ministers have held meetings with Opposition legislators to agree on new provisions being passed in Parliament.

Unfortunately, when it comes to Government-Opposition collaboration, the record of achievement has been fairly dismal in recent times. The anti- gang legislation, the rules governing the selection of a Police Commissioner and even the infamous Section 34 law were all passed with bipartisan support, some as a direct result of Government and Opposition meetings.

Former PNM prime minister Patrick Manning famously trashed the laws governing the selection of a police commissioner which had been promulgated during his tenure, saying they represented “compromise” positions having come out of collaboration with the UNC.

The timing of Manning’s reappraisal of the law (his government had just rejected the Police Service Commission’s top choice for commissioner — Stephen Williams) distracted from the truth of its substance: a High Court judge eventually struck down portions of the law years later and today few disagree that it remains unsatisfactory.

Is it really the case that when legislators cooperate the resulting measures are more likely to be defective? In theory, listening to the views of others who do not have to toe your line enhances decision- making. Any government will always have expert advice at its disposal, but the wider its pool of expertise the better.

Still, it is also clear that when the stakes are high and both sides have much to lose, compromises will result in a loss of quality. There is something called objection for objection sake and it is not conductive to good law.

But without an adversarial process, it is also the case that hidden flaws may not come to light. It is the job of Opposition and Independent legislators to be extremely vigilant on behalf of the population as a whole.

What matters most is that the politicians realise there is a time and a place for collaboration as opposed to theatrics. Both sides must also be fully committed and must not, years after the fact, then engage in a revision of history to suit the current political climate.

The agenda for the meeting has given us some encouraging signs. We truly hope progress can be made on campaign finance reform, a matter left in abeyance by the Persad-Bissessar regime after five years. It is also encouraging that the Prime Minister has returned to the fore his plan for a code of conduct for parliamentarians, a matter that is urgently required given the faltering of the Integrity Commission and the matter of the management of constituency office funds and employment practices across the floor.

Crime, however, remains the most pressing matter and should also be on the agenda, whether special majority matter or no.

We need, by 3.30 pm today when this meeting ends, some real results.

Abdool scored 325 runs during the season with her highest score being 107 at an average of 65. Abdool took 16 wickets during the season and her best bowling figures were five for 10.

It was the second award Abdool won this year, after winning the girls Cricketer of the Year award at the PowerGen Secondary Schools Cricket League awards recently.

Among those who attended the awards were brands commercial manager at Flow Jacinta Pinard, director of marketing at Flow Cindy- Ann Gatt and president of the SSCL Surujdath Mahabir.

HONOUR ROLL BOYS UNDER-15 ZONAL WINNERS 2017 North Zone Runners Up – Fatima College Winners – St Mary’s College East Zone Runners Up – St George’s College Winners – Holy Cross College

North East Zone Runners Up – Swaha Hindu College Winners – Manzanilla Secondary School

Tobago Zone Runners Up – Roxbrorough Secondary Winners – Signal Hill Secondary School

Central Zone Runners Up – Couva East Secondary Winners – Vishnu Boys Hindu College

South Zone Runners Up – Barrackpore West Secondary Winners – Presentation College, San Fernando

South West Zone Runners Up – Shiva Boys Hindu College Winners – Fyzabad Secondary School

South East Zone Runners Up – Rio Claro East Secondary Winner – Rio Claro West Secondary

GIRLS UNDER-16 ZONAL WINNERS North Zone Runners Up – St Francois Girls Winners – Holy Name Convent

Tobago Runners Up – Speyside High Winners – Signal Hill Secondary

Central Zone Runners Up – Miracle Ministries Pentecostal High Winners – Holy Faith Convent

South Zone Runners Up – Naparima Girls College Winners – Barrackpore West Secondary

South West Runners Up – Penal Convent Winners – Vessigny Secondary

South East Runners Up – Rio Claro West Secondary Winners – Barrackpore Asja Girls College

NATIONAL WINNERS Boys

Interzone Under-14 Runners Up – South Zone Winners – East Zone Girls Hardball Runners Up – East Zone Winners – South Zone Boys T10 Runners Up – Iere High School Winners – San Juan North Secondary

Girls Under-16 Runners Up – Holy Name Convent

Winners – Barrackpore West Secondary

Cricketers of the Year Shania Abdool – Barrackpore East Secondary

Shalini Samaroo – Barrackpore East Secondary

Jesse Ferdinand – Holy Name Convent

Alysha Gomes – St Joseph Secondary School

Shunelle Sawh – Holy Faith Convent, Couva

Cricketer of the Year: Shania Abdool

The top four teams in the two groups all qualified for the quarter-final. Qualifying from Group A were El Socorro Youth Movement (EYM -13 points), Charlieville Same Side (nine), Combine All Stars B (nine) and Valley Boys (six).

In Group B were World Premium Import (WPI-13 points), Bamboo All Stars (10 points), Mystery XI (six points) and Combine All Stars A (four points).

Coming out of the group stages, Darren Bravo was the leading runscorer with 226 runs in five innings at an average of 45.2 while Teshawn Castro was the leading wicket-taker with 10.

EYM and Combine All Stars A met in a quarter-final match with EYM posting 158 runs for the loss of five wickets, after being inserted to bat.

Captain Deepak Kumar, who is the in-form batsman for the unbeaten EYM, blazed a score of 43 runs from 23 balls, including one four and four sixes.

Also contributing was Richard Ali with 39 runs, while the best bowler for Combine All Star A was Kadeem Williams with 2/42.

In reply, All Stars crumbled to 81 all out in 18.2 overs to give EYM a 77-run victory and a spot in the semi-final.

The major destroyer with the ball were the eventual Man of the Match Shakeem Prince with figures of 4/5 in his four overs.

The other quarter-final was a battle of the ‘All Stars’ as Bamboo All Stars captain Kieron Pollard won the toss and sent in Combine All Stars B to bat.

In their tally of 147/7, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force batsman Isaiah Rajah top-scored with 49 runs, inclusive of two fours and two sixes. He was backed up by Shane De Souza (23) and Sheldon Thomas (21). West Indies all-rounder Pollard was the leading wicket taker with 3/31 and he was aided by Andy Alexander 2/35.

Bamboo had a nervy start to the run chase after they lost opener Johnathon Narine as well as ex-WI captain Denesh Ramdin for one run each. They continued to lose wickets regularly until Pollard joined Darren Bravo at the crease and they brought home victory quite comfortably in the end, reaching 153/5 with two overs to spare.

Bravo continued to wear the ‘purple cap’ as he ended unbeaten on 56 runs including five maximums while Man of the Match Kieron Pollard’s 54 runs including five maximums.

WPI will come up against Valley Boys at 6.30 pm today followed by the semi-finals, tomorrow and Thursday respectively, at the same venue

Both teams had similar records in this round by beating Australia (3-1) and losing (3-0) to France and the game started equally, matching each other point for point.

The African champions then pulled away at 12-11 through tricky serves from captain Nana Christelle Tchoudjang. She was also influential throughout the set with her spiking at different angles and paces which gave the visitors the win at 25-18 for the 1-0 lead.

After trailing 7-5 in the second set, Channon ‘De Cannon’ Thompson fuelled energy into TT with some electrifying serves giving her team the lead. The local team maintained the advantage in the set from then onwards to win 25-18 and tie the game 1-1.

The inclusion of Delicia Pierre proved decisive and the “Soca Spikers” seemed to find their rhythm in the game from the beat of the drums and the vocal crowd cheering them on.

The third set started identical to the first set and it was tied at 10-10 when the Cameroonians went on a five-point run to lead 15-10 and didn’t turn back as they finished off comfortably to win at 25-17 and take the 2-1 advantage.

Another close set in the fourth and at 12-12, TT went on a sixpoint run as they upped their blocking and passing game much to the delight of hundreds of supporters as they kept their hopes alive by winning 25-18.

TT would have wanted a reset button for the fifth set but they lacked enthusiasm and concentration from the first point which allowed the visitors the win the set easily at 15-10. Cameroon’s Tchoudjang led the scorers with 17 points whilst TT’s Pierre had 15. TT finished the match with a tournament high of 39 unforced errors compared to their opponents 25.

TT’s coach Francisco Cruz said, “It is a big challenge to play against these teams, because they train and play against good teams.

We need to play more matches against good teams in order to help our concentration.” A satisfied captain Renele Forde mentioned, “I’m proud of my team despite the loss. We made errors in key moments that cost us the game but the positives were us getting good points in our blocking and our playing around the net.” Cameroon coach Akono Jean Rene took the positives out of the Grand Prix saying, “Good experience being here in especially as we won two games. It was our first tournament since Olympics but we had a short preparation.

We won three and lost three in the Grand Prix so it’s all good.” Cameroon skipper and star player Tchoudjang echoed her coach’s comments. “I’m satisfied with finishing with three wins and three losses because it’s our first time and hope next time we can be better. The game was difficult because TT is a good physical and technical team.” In the previous match, France were made to battle against Australia to complete the Grand Prix unbeaten. The French team won 3-2 ((17-25, 25-18, 25-23, 24-26, 15-12).

Both teams will meet again when Australia will host the Group 3 Final Four in Canberra from July 22-23.

“We are taking measures to ensure that those who were responsible for the design would be held accountable, because we cannot understand how a school could be built in a swamp. In addition to that, we have identified a number of schools that we are going to continue the construction and as soon as we have the requisite funds, the Fanny Village Government School would be among those that we would be constructing,” Garcia had stated.

But following statements by former Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh who questioned the amount of money spent on the incomplete school, the Ministry gave a time line on the school’s building programme and subsequent stalling of that programme.

The Ministry noted that in September 2005, the Education Facilities Company Limited (EFCL) was mandated to provide “project management, designs, construction services and outfitting for twenty one (21) replacement government primary schools of which Fanny Village Government Primary School was included.” A contract was awarded to Ashana Civil Mechanical Contracting Limited in July 2008 in the sum of $39,454,887.79 for a package consisting of Cap-de- Ville Government Primary, Fanny Village Primary and Fanny Village ECCE. “Progress was hampered by slow and inadequate supply of design related information to the contractor,” the Ministry stated, adding that the original design consultant was subsequently fired and a new design contractor hired.

Another contractor was also hired and presented two options as the way forward: firstly, structural retrofitting of all existing structural members at an estimated cost of $33,400,000. Secondly, restricting all blocks to single storey buildings, limited structural retrofitting and redesign of the roofs to make them lighter.

This option was estimated to cost $27,700,000.

EFCL subsequently selected the second option and awarded a contract initially valued at $19,100,000.00 VAT Exclusive.

Cain finished third in the women’s 100m T44 final to earn another bronze medal at a Para Championships. Cain’s feat yesterday follows up the bronze medal she claimed in the same event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Yesterday, Cain finished third in 13.25 seconds. Sophie Kamlish of Great Britain won gold in 12.92, while Marlou van Rhijn of Netherlands took silver in 13.20.

Cain qualified for the final after finishing second in heat two of round one. She clocked a season’s best time of 13.21, finishing behind van Rhijn who clocked the same time. Laura Sugar (13.42) of Great Britain and American Femita Ayanbeku (13.48) finished third and fourth respectively to book places in the final. The top three in each of the two heats and the next two fastest athletes qualified for the final.

In heat one of round one gold medal winner Kamlish broke the world record with a time of 12.90. Also booking places in the final from heat one were Irmgard Bensusan (Germany) in 13.40, Marissa Papaconstantinou (Canada) in 13.49 and Marlene van Gansewinkel (Netherlands) in 13.58.

Veteran TT athlete Carlos Greene continues to represent this country at para games.

In the men’s discus F11 final Greene was last among the five athletes with a top throw of 28.15m on his third attempt.

His other throws were 26.42m (first attempt), 25.53m (second), 27.79m (fourth), 27.48m (fifth) and 26.60m (sixth). Alessandro Rodrigo Silva of Brazil won gold with a top throw of 43.32m.

Today, TT athletes Akeem Stewart and Jabari Knights will compete. Stewart will line up in the men’s javelin F42/43/44 event, while Knights will compete in the men’s 200m T54.

Stewart won gold in the men’s javelin F44 event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Dead is Manza Samnath, 38, of Bholai Trace, Quinam Road in Penal. According to a police report, at about 9.30 pm on Sunday, Samnath was watching television in the living room of the family home when the male relative raised the volume of a radio.

Reports are that Samnath became upset and told the relative to turn the volume level down.

The relative refused and the two began arguing.

The argument escalated and the two men began fighting.

Samnath was dealt several blows to his head.

Police said the relative used his fists to cuff Samnath who fell unconscious.

The enraged relative then began throwing Samnath’s clothing out of the house. Neigbours contacted Siparia police. Samnath was rushed to San Fernando General Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. A 27-year-old man remains in police custody.

An autopsy is expected to be performed today at the Forensic Science Centre in St James and investigations are ongoing