Primary school students debate Tobago autonomy

SEVENTEEN primary schools will participate in this year’s second primary plenary debate scheduled for June 12 at the Assembly Legislature, Scarborough.

Speaking with Newsday on June 10, debate facilitator Ajay Alleyne said the venture is a brainchild of Presiding Officer Abby Taylor, aimed at giving younger children access to the Assembly Legislature.

“We know people see the legislature as this big building that looks like a courthouse – we wanted to break that. Allow persons to access it and know what governance looks like beyond the political view.”

The topic for debate this year, he said, is autonomy and self governance.

“They will be debating how autonomy for the island of Tobago will affect them as young people. They are exploring the issues of employment, the issues of legislation, the veto power that the government has will also be explored as well during the debate.”

He said the students are ready.

“We’ve been training them for the past couple of weeks and they are excited. A number of points are going to be raised – it is going to be an eye-changing, mind-twisting debate. It is going to be fire.”

He added: "We are extremely excited. When we started this process, the children were timid, they were scared, but now they are speaking fluent. They are making mistakes, but sometimes it’s hard to recognise.”

The debate will begin at 10 am.