Gopeesingh: PM to blame for failing education system

Former education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh has asked the Prime Minister if he was not to blame for a high crime rate driven by the current education system in TT.

Gopeesingh was referring to comments made by Dr Rowley at a Breakfast with PM event on May 31, where said the school curriculum needed change so fewer students would leave secondary school without improvement and, in so doing, be left susceptible to turning to crime.

Speaking at a UNC media conference on Sunday, Gopeesingh said, "But Prime Minister, you have been in charge for the last eight years. You have had four ministers of education, you have spent almost $56 billion – roughly $7 billion per year – and you really can't account for any improvements in the education sector?"

Gopeesingh also claimed government reversed the primary school curriculum to remove the teaching of morals, values, ethics, citizenry development, character development, agriscience, music, dance and drama.

In a WhatsApp exchange with Newsday on Sunday, Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said the primary school curriculum was not changed, but the continuous assessment component of those subjects was removed in relation to the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination.

Gopeesingh also mentioned that component and claimed that almost 5,000 educators recommended that the programme was needed as it would have given the SEA students support before sitting the exam.

He also claimed, "You (Rowley) closed down all the tech-voc (technical-vocational) education systems across the country – MIC (Institute of Technology), NSDP (National Social Development Programme), YTEPP (Youth Training and Employment Partnership Programme)."

However, Gadsby-Dolly said Gopeesingh's assertion was false and upon Newsday's research, the websites and phone numbers for all three institutions are all operational.

Gopeesingh also touched on information which was announced during a joint select committee (JSC) in 2021 which revealed that over 46,000 students in both primary and secondary schools never logged on to online classes during the lockdowns of 2020.

He claimed that Rowley was begging the private sector for laptops for school children, but state-owned energy company the National Gas Company TT (NGC) helped the Education Ministry save millions by using reverse e-auctioning.

Reverse auction is used to purchase items where the lowest bid wins compared to forward auctions where the highest bid wins.

In a release on May 17, NGC said it helped the ministry in collaboration with the National Information and Communication Technology Co Ltd (iGovTT) save millions in buying 8,000 laptops for schoolchildren.