Gopeesingh: Authority of denominational boards being eroded

FORMER education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh is calling on the heads of the various denominational boards to act swiftly to prevent government from eroding and eventually destroying their authority and autonomy to manage the schools under their purview.

Gopeesingh, in a press release over the weekend, said the threat to the denominational boards' authority – as prescribed and laid out in the decades-old Concordat – comes in the form of Cabinet receiving a report from a committee, which it commissioned last year, to review and recommend changes to the conduct of Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exams and the Concordat.

Gopeesingh said Government has not made this report public, as it ought to, in order to preserve the democratic principles that govern the education sector.

He said by not making the report public, the country cannot be guaranteed that the committee's 24 members are truly indepenent of any and all political considerations.

In not only calling for the report to be made public, the former minister also called on Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly not to implement any of the report's recommendations until that report is fully examined and there are detailed consultation with all stakeholders in the education sector, especially the 17 denominational boards that oversee 340 primary and 44 secondary schools in the country.

The Concordat, signed in 1960 by then education minister John S. Donaldson on behalf of the government, is an agreement in which Government acknowledges all rights and priviliges of denominational boards to manage and run the affairs of schools under the purview of these boards.

"The reality is that the Rowley Government simply cannot be trusted to uphold democracy and fairness in Trinidad and Tobago, given their track record over the past eight years.

"This is especially true with regard to the education sector, buffered by the fact that one denominational board has already threatened legal action against the ministry over what it contends to be a violation of the Concordat," Gopeesingh said.

The former Caroni East MP said that an example of the government's high-handed approach in education was the prejudiced and arbitrary move to stop the public announcement of top-ranking schools and SEA performances, forcing some parents to file Freedom of Information requests to get the information.

"I therefore call on the denominational boards in particular to take a strong, determined, fearless stance against the Rowley Government’s galloping dictatorship.

"Do your duty and take all legal measures available to protect your constitutionally enshrined rights, and the democratic principles that govern our education sector, and nation, for the sake of our children’s future," Gopeesingh said.