Article A21 · Book 1 · Scrapbook page p.18
Cedros must no longer be denied the facilities for technical education
Page 12 EXPRESS Wednesday, January 13, 1971
By R.O. THACKOORIE, Granville, Cedros
[Photo: Dr. Williams]
EVERYONE is talking about National Reconstruction. One of the main ingredients of National Reconstruction, however, is social change. And this means that we must be prepared to experiment with the new and unorthodox. Yet even the government, in spite of all its fanciful slogans and revolutionary talk about Peoples Section and Perspectives for the New Society, pay little more than lip service to new ideas.
Examples abound e.g. the Senate is still the rubber stamp it used to be in spite of the "new blood" introduced into it. While the commanding heights of the economy oil and sugar are still largely foreign owned and controlled.
TRAPPED
In many cases we have succeeded in identifying the problems, and often we know the solutions. Yet we continue with the same old ways.
So long as the Government is prepared to prop up institutions which are manifestly irrelevant or to take only faltering half steps we will never be able to break out of the vicious circle into which we are trapped.
COLONIAL
Take education for example. Over 30 years ago Dr. Williams recognised the need for a new orientation in education. Sparrow's famous "Dan is the man in the van" rightly ridiculed the colonial idea of education.
Yet in 1971 our education system from Primary school to University continue to produce graduates nobody wants, while important sectors of economy languish for want of trained personnel which must be filled in with expatriates.
The Government makes all sorts of excuses, like the shortage of teachers.
Yet teachers are expressly forbidden from doing more than one job. How can the problem of shortage be overcome if people are not allowed to work?
If Trinidadians can do two and three jobs in the U.S.A they can do it here as well. All that is needed is to take the chains off the people. Liberate them and you will see how the country hums with activity.
I have an educational reconstruction plan for Cedros which embraces some very unconventional yet very practical ideas. I am proposing the conversion of the building which was formally [as printed, for "formerly"] the Cedros Hospital into a technical school to accommodate 100 students. I will deal with my plan under the following three heads:—
PROGRESS
1. The need for and cost of a technical school for Cedros. 2. What to teach. 3. Where to get the teachers.
If Cedrosians are not to remain the traditional "hewers of wood and drawers of water" they must no longer be denied the facilities for technical education.
Our boys and girls have proven that they are as good as boys and girls anywhere. Industrial progress is synonymous with technical education and if Cedrosians are to have equal opportunities in this country I dare anyone to show me how this can be done without technical know-how.
PALTRY
One hundred students complete with facilities equipment and instructors fees can be managed on an expenditure of $5,000 a month. The question which the authorities will probably be asking is "does Cedros deserve that?" My answer is that it is a very paltry sum to recompense for the years of official neglect down here.
The plan does not seek to duplicate facilities existing elsewhere where these are adequate, but to complement them. What is to be taught is to be determined by the needs of the country. The needs of the country will be determined by an Industrial and Manpower Survey which must be continually in progress.
For instance, if it is estimated that the demand for electricity will increase by 20 per cent over the next five years, then the increases in each category of workers can be worked out and the educational machinery of the country can be geared to provide these.
This can be done for all sectors of the economy and a technical school at Cedros can play its role in the overall plan.
These will be easier to get than is realised, but we must have an entirely new conception of a teacher. No longer must he be the sedate, easy going fellow with a tie and his certificate, confined within the four walls of his school.
Industrial progress calls for production. The new teacher must be a man who knows his work and can pass on the information. Why must it be necessary for him to have a certificate, or tie, or be imprisoned in one building?
UNFAIR
A technical school at Cedros can be run with three full-time staffs and the rest can be teachers from other schools, such as Point Fortin College and the Shell Vocational Centre. Still other instructors can be had on a part-time basis from other institutions and industry.
Trinidad is a small place and there is no reason why specialist instructors must be confined to one building. Give the chaps travelling allowances, cars etc., and let them circulate and service the needs of the society.
It is morally unfair to have a talented teacher confined to one school where he can reach only about 25 pupils while 200 in other schools nearby are denied an opportunity which can easily be made available to them.
UNDISCOVERED
Another reason for shortage of instructors in the technical field is the over-insistence on certificates.
If skills and competence where [as printed, for "were"] dependent on certificates then the world would never have known some of the greatest. And it is probably true that while our country languish for want of skilled people some of our most valuable wealth remain undiscovered for want of certification.
ESSENTIAL
Finally, let me summarise the case for Cedros. I have shown that the building is available; that technical education is essential; that the cost is small and that the instructors can be found. Will the authority still continue to neglect Cedros?