Archbishop Joseph: Lobby Govt on education

People must lobby governments to improve the school system, whose defects greatly contribute to this country’s crime upsurge, implored outgoing PoS Archbishop Joseph Harris yesterday in his latest “Ask the Archbishop” broadcast on Facebook.

Asked about any regrets during his tenure, he said he had hoped Roman Catholic education would have advanced more, but he did not blame the church or the Government, but the general public.

“It’s a fault of our people, who don’t seem to understand that the education system that we have does not fit the expressed developmental programmes that we have. That’s a problem.”

He said unless the education system fits the developmental programmes, the country will continue to end up in the same problems.

“Part of the problem of crime in this country is the education system. There are things we need to work on, but governments do what people want and I don’t think people really understand what the present education system is doing to our children. We have to think through things a little more. And we have to be more vocal. We have to lobby governments much, much more.”

Harris also indirectly linked educational failings to the non-passage of the Anti-Gang Bill in Parliament.

He lamented the population’s blind acceptance of colonial systems of governance even if slightly tweaked bit, plus ethno-political tribalism.

“I am worried that the failure of this bill shows us the Westminster system of governance is not suited to our country at all. Of his wishes for TT in 2018, Harris said, “I really wish we could have a government-mandated programme of nation-building. We are a nation of minorities, each minority seeking its own good, and nobody is looking at the good of the whole.”