Rowley: Education, training a key anti-crime strategy

THE PRIME MINISTER wants university graduates to remember that they, like the government, have a shared responsibility in the fight against crime.

Dr Keith Rowley congratulated hundreds of University of the Southern Caribbean (USC) graduates and the institution at a commencement ceremony held at USC, St Joseph, on June 30.

He also praised the local Seventh-Day Adventist church for its “collaborative role in influencing the values, attitudes and behaviour of our citizens” and contribution to the education sector.

Rowley focused extensively on crime, saying a collaborative effort was needed to overcome the issue. He said crime affects not only people but also potential business and foreign investment.

“The fight against crime is one that is best fought together. We need you, our best and brightest, to use your influence and join the government and the rest of the nation in this effort,” he said, adding that crime transcends politics, race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, ideology and geographical location.

“It strikes at the heart of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean region.”

However, he said the government is mindful that education and skills training play a vital role in crime prevention and acts accordingly.

“Education and crime are said to have an inverse causal relationship; That is, the more education one receives, the less likely one is to be engaged in criminal activity,” said Rowley.

He said against this background, one can better contextualise the government’s considerable investments “to many and varied opportunities for positive youth development, among other crime prevention strategies.”

Rowley also challenged the attendees, saying, “While the government has serious responsibility in this matter, and is discharging it accordingly, there is also the matter of personal responsibility that all citizens must consider.

“I, therefore, pose these questions to you, poised as you are, on the threshold of great expectations: How has your experience at USC prepared you to contribute to the mitigation of crime?

“How can you, as a parent, family member, or family friend, contribute to the development of the young people around you to take advantage of the educational opportunities available to them?

“Can you personally contribute by volunteering at least one young person in your household in our schools, in our communities, in our churches?”

Rowley said he established the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service in 2020, “cognisant of the role of skilled youth in national development. The ministry “places special focus on the professionalisation of citizens up to the age of 35,” he said.

“(The ministry) has partnered with many of our public tertiary and post-secondary institutions to offer free training in critical skill areas for young people all over the country, including agriculture, shade house training, aquaculture, heavy machinery operation, digital skills and much more.

Rowley also boasted of TT’s education sector, saying, “Citizens of TT seated here in this audience, your brothers and sisters from islands and the continent around the region may be seated next to you – they will tell you that arrangements for education of young people in TT are second to none in the region, and I dare say most of the world.

“It is for our citizens to take full advantage of the investment and provide the region with skilled professionals that we need for continued advancement. Gone are the days when our teachers, lawyers, architects, doctors, nurses, technicians had to come from some so-called developed world.

He said the USC and local public institutions have supplied the region and the world with “professionals of the highest order.”

He also suggested greater collaboration between neigbouring states is necessary and impending.

“As a region, we acknowledge that the time has come for solidarity as never before. Our shared pandemic experience has only strengthened our resolve to implement the tenets of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).”

The CSME, Rowley said, was created to offer "more and better opportunities to produce and sell goods and services and to attract investment through aspects of harmonised fiscal incentives, to offer greater economies of scale, to offer increased competitiveness, full employment and improved standard of living of the people of the Caribbean community.

"Caribbean integration is in the best interest of us all.

“The region has for 60 years sought...the ideal of Caribbean integration (with our) greatest successes being the University of the West Indies and, of course, our West Indies cricket team.

“Today, certain as I am, there will be no dissenting voices throughout the Caribbean region I take prime ministerial liberty and add to that list of success stories, the institution that is today the University of the Southern Caribbean.”