Category Archives: Education

Why are our educators so superstitious?

Charlie Charlie challenge reaches T&T schools

By Camille Hunte
May 28, 2015 – trinidadexpress.com

Charlie CharliePresident of the National Parent/Teacher Association Zena Ramatali is warning against the “Charlie Charlie” game which has been trending globally over the last few days and is now being played by children in local schools.

The game is said to be a simplified version of the “Ouija Board” and summons a Mexican “demon” by the name of Charlie. The “Charlie Charlie Challenge” as it is being called entails placing two pencils on a piece of paper in the shape of the cross with the words “yes” and “no’ written in each quadrant.
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Hillview College Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

By Stephen Kangal
April 09, 2015

Hillview College

Hillview College, founded as Naparima College, Tunapuna Branch on 17 January 1955 inaugurated the celebration of its Diamond Jubilee with a Thanksgiving and Plaque Dedication Service held at the Aramalaya Church on 17 January earlier this year. Delivering an inspiring and fitting message was the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the Rt. Rev’d Brenda Bullock, graduate of Iere High School shown below.
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What About Dat Sex Ed Ting Jred?

By Corey Gilkes
September 04, 2014

Sex EducationI come to pelt jep nest again. In a few days school will be reopened and in light of all the various bacchanal going on, in and out of Parliament, it isn’t surprising that many may have forgotten that the Ministry of Education is supposed to be embarking on a revamped programme dealing with sexuality, relationships and sexual health aimed at schoolchildren.
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Emancipate Yourself from … Yourself

By Corey Gilkes
August 06, 2014

EmancipationYears ago, the late economist and social thinker Lloyd Best pondered over the question of how does one save a culture from itself. This is a question we have not collectively dealt with as we continue to entangle ourselves more and more in the destructive aspects of this culture that we’re partly responsible for creating. Somewhere along the line, Emancipation, understood as “freedom” – and I’ll come back to that later – was hijacked to become something that was tolerant of mediocrity, the spurning of ambition, industriousness and intellectual pursuits. Small wonder some people say “dey should bring back de white man” because we’ve made a mess of our Independence (and our Emancipation). I don’t necessarily subscribe to such a self-loathing sentiment but much of what we’re doing to ourselves and our space certainly gives credence to it.
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CARICOM Reparations Presentation to UK House of Commons

PROFESSOR SIR HILARY BECKLES
Professor Sir Hilary Beckles

ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR SIR HILARY BECKLES
CHAIRMAN OF THE CARICOM REPARATIONS COMMISSION

to the

HOUSE OF COMMONS,
PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN
COMMITTEE ROOM 14
JULY 16, 2014
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Embrace ideals and principles of Mandela

By Richardson Dhalai
July 16, 2014 – newsday.co.tt

Nelson MandelaPublic Administration Minister, Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, has advised the nation to embrace the ideals and principles of former South African president, Nelson Mandela, saying “his life principle of ‘Ubuntu’ or ‘I am because you are’ can greatly benefit our nation as it deals with the inequities in our society.”
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Happy Indian Arrival Day: Documenting Indian/Trinibagonian History

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 01, 2014

Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe“A child is as much wronged by being left uneducated as it is by being left unfed.” Antoine Fortune, Public Opinion, October 30, 1888.

I endorse Sat Maharaj’s offer of grants of “about $100,000 to local historians who wish to document ‘authentic’ East Indian history in the communities” (Express, May 25). Although I don’t know what Sat means by “authentic” history or what constitutes misrepresented histories “by the children of converts,” I still think his thrust is correct. We need to pay greater attention to our past so that we can better understand our present.
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The Politics Behind “One” God

Western Definition of Monotheism masks Imperialism

By Corey Gilkes
May 01, 2014 – trinicenter.com/Gilkes

BibleSo, following on from the last two articles, I want to look now at monotheism, the belief in a one and only god. To be more precise, the Eurocentric definition of it. What REALLY makes that concept so morally superior? What makes it more legitimate and righteous than the (so-called) polytheistic belief systems that came before? I’ll tell you, nothing.
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