Charles: Self-governance comes with responsibility / accountability

With internal self-governance comes with tremendous responsibility, in that Tobagonians would have to take control of their lives, and so those charged with developing minds must be properly trained to carry out this duty.

This was the advice from Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles on Tuesday, speaking at the opening of the Tobago Teachers’ Professional Centre at Mardon House, John Dial.

“We are at a juncture where we are seeking to get greater autonomy for those of us who reside on this piece of real estate. “It is a tremendous responsibility because the more we take control of our lives, the more we would have to account for ourselves for the results.

“In that context therefore, those of us who have been mandated or have been charged to develop minds, must be positioned to do so creatively, must be positioned to do so with the requisite flexibility because I tell you, these are two of the skills that would be required as we seek to make decisions, as we seek to problem solve in taking this island forward,” he said.

Charles, who is also the Secretary for Education, Innovation and Energy, in his feature address at the event, described the opening of the as historic, and said that he looks forward to it playing a pivotal role in encouraging needed innovation in Tobago.

Noting that schools were a critical environment, that “students at primary schools are like pottery…easy to mould and fashion them in the ways that we would want and that is why we want to get it right,” Charles said “it was imperative that we use the opportunity of our students when they are at primary school to fashion their personalities.”

Reminding that the students of today were teachers of tomorrow, he advised attendees at the event to get the required training be able to help their students develop skills which would be needed for the development of the island.

Noting that the education system was always under tremendous pressure, in every country, he said one challenge was because education was generally sought out in preparing students for the future.

“I submit that that is quite a demanding task and for those of us who have the responsibility to prepare these precious minds, we must recognise that as teachers, we need to be the greatest resource that is available to them,” he said.

Charles said he was heartened by the presence at the event of Orlando Kerr, Tobago Officer at the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Orlando Kerr, and his (Kerr) position that TTUTA would work closely with the Division of Education to ensure that the teachers are imbued with the requisite skills and talents so that they can do what they are being paid to do.

On Monday, TTUTA led a protest of over 200 teachers outside the Division, Dutch Fort offices, calling for action on some 24 issues, including under-resourced schools, poor physical conditions, lack of security and no promotion and transfers for some time now.

On Tuesday, Charles said at the John Dial event:

“I give you the commitment that we are in this thing together and we can together hold hands notwithstanding our areas of disagreement and take education in Tobago forward.

He said the Centre was about providing additional opportunities for “our teachers to move from good to great.”

“Notwithstanding training at the level of the university, since education really has to do with life-long learning and since there are always new challenges and since there is innovation, we always have to search for best practices and therefore opportunities must be given for teachers to engage in opportunities outside of university, where they can together reason, think, analyse, synthesise, experiment, problem-solve,” he said.