Prorogation and Dissolution of Parliament

With election fever in the air there has been a lot of talk about the Prime Minister proroguing Parliament. At this time I would invite all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to familiarise themselves with the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is truly an interesting document and is the foundation of our society. When we do not know something for ourselves it is so easy for us to be fed lies and wrong information. We are currently in the Third Session of the Ninth Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Sections 67, 68 and 69 of the constitution outline the prorogation and dissolution of Parliament. A session of parliament is simply the yearly intervals between general elections. There can be up to five sessions, of which sessions one to four have to be prorogued with the fifth session being dissolved for general elections to be held. Parliament can be dissolved at anytime but it cannot go beyond five years to the date of its first sitting. Additionally the Prime Minister cannot dissolve Parliament, it is actually the President who dissolves parliament on the advice of the Prime Minister. Simply put prorogue is the term used between sessions and dissolved is the term used between elections. Therefore the Third Session of the Ninth Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago essentially means that we are in the third year since the last election and there have been nine general elections since Republican constitution was enacted in 1976. I just thought I would clarify some of the nonsense that has been printed in the daily news papers recently.

Good Luck SEA Students

Today a little over 17,000 primary school students would be taking the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) Examination. This reminded me of my big day. The amount of pressure that this test places on children is unbelievable. I wrote this examination when it was still common entrance and a place was not guaranteed to every student. There were various possibilities that could come from the exam including failure, not passing for a seven year, or five year school. This is too much pressure for an eleven year old to endure.

My experience was quite interesting in that the night before the exam I did not sleep. This by the way was my first memorable case of insomnia, which is something that has plagued my adult life. Tossing and turning the night before the exam I was thinking of all sorts of things as I was quite nervous about doing the exam. Needless to say on the day of the exam I fell asleep while writing the essay, which was the first section. The sleep I got during the exam was probably better than the sleep I had gotten the night before. I awoke to the sound of the bell signaling the end of that section of the exam and I had only written two paragraphs. The sad thing about that scenario was that the person supervising my room was my neighbour whose daughter was my friend. The lady saw me sleeping and did not wake me up. Anyways I went on to do the rest of the exam without major incident.

I passed for a five year secondary school. I remember being a bit disappointed but I was grateful because I honestly thought I was going to fail. My neighbour’s daughter who was writing the exam that year for the second time passed for the illustrious St. Joseph Convent a seven year school. This whole thing about five year and seven year schools is nonsense because in seven year schools entrance into the A’Level programme is based on performance at CXC. However at the time of common entrance I was given the impression that it is was a guaranteed placement. Strange enough the young lady and I ended up in the same Senior Comprehensive School to do A’Levels. Essentially what I am trying to say is that please don’t put any undue pressure on the students. Even if the results aren’t what we as parents and adults would like all is not lost. Keep in mind that many times what we want for our children is often what we did not achieve for ourselves so while we may want the best it is important to love and support our children regardless of the outcome.

I wish all the SEA students the best of luck today.

The Piss Poor Conduct of the El Do Blue Teachers

Teachers in El Do Blue don’t want to work until 3 o’clock to facilitate the Ministry of Education’s attempts to curb the violence between El Do Blue and El Do Brown. I am totally disgusted with those bastards. Teaching is no longer a profession, it has become a job, something to do during the day to get money. For many persons teaching, it was not a first choice but a last resort after trying unsuccessfully to gain employment elsewhere. These same teachers give themselves a holiday for two months during July and August, and two weeks or more during the Christmas and Easter vacation periods. How much would it hurt to work an extra half hour. The Ministry of Education should start to make deductions from their pay for not showing up to work during vacation periods.

Originally El Do Brown was a Junior Secondary and El Do Blue was a Senior Comprehensive, with the former having younger students that the latter. When news of this violence between the two schools broke I wondered whether the change to both schools having students of the same age had something to do with the violence. I remember back in the day it was said that the reason for Tunapuna Government Secondary and Hillview College being dismissed fifteen minutes apart was because there were some fights between the two schools. I always felt that was urban legend though so don’t quote me on that.

My entire point here is that I am disappointed with the El Do Blue teachers who don’t want to give half hour of their time, which I am sure they are already being paid for. I think that the Ministry of Education has responded relatively well and the Teachers are now sabotaging the efforts of the Ministry.

What do you think about the El Do Blue Teachers? What do you think about the Ministry of Education’s response to the incidents between the two schools?

CXC Results

Young boys and girls around the country are receiving their CXC results today and I can only imagine the feelings of anxiety they would be experiencing. Many of them would have gone to countless hours of extra lessons and sleepless nights in an attempt to achieve the goal of the coveted one or distinction. The average age of the student writing the CXC exams is 16-18. I personally believe that this is a time in life to be happy and joyous. Parents, teachers, family and friends put an incredible amount of pressure on students to succeed. This may be fine but to what end. There are student who are afraid to collect results because of the possible outcome. CXC would be the first major exam that many of these students would have taken since SEA, which in itself is madness. Exams are tricky beasts, in that if you woke up the morning with a stomach ache or if rain fell and you were late it may affect your performance. I know for a fact that I do not do exams well. I hate them with a passion and I do not think that they are a true representation of a person’s ability, but we have to do it because our society recognizes it as acceptable form of performance measurement or assessment.

I want to explore as a parent, student or friend if a child does not get the grades desired by all there are options. The student can repeat the examination, which can be done in a number of ways. The student can go to the On-the-Job Training Programme to get a job for a one year period and repeat the exams in January or June of the following year. The student can go back to a secondary school and repeat the entire form five year. The former option allows for the individual to gain some working experience while figuring out what the next step in life could be. In the end we are all going to the same place to become responsible adults contributing to the good of society. Take for example your friends who went to the prestige schools got ones for CXC and A’s for A-levels didn’t we all end up in UWI or some University together struggling to get the same degree.

I am in no way against education at any level. However if a student does not excel at the traditional mathematics, physics, English, Biology then maybe the parents and need to review whether the child is following the right path, because everyone has a view for their child to be a doctor lawyer or an accountant. But that is not possible nor is it realistic. There are several other professions that are quite viable. For example, have you ever seen an attorney going to court with their hair in a mess? After that attorney makes their money they have to then give it to the beautician or barber. I am of the strong belief that my hairdresser makes more money than me and she is happier too because she works for her damn self and keeps her own hours.

With the results of young students you may know being announced. Keep one thing in mind that the child did their best and that is all that matters. The world is not going to come to an end. Everything will be just fine.