Trinidad and Tobago would not be where it is today if the religions of the country did not make a significant commitment to education and thus national development.

“Long before there was a government of Trinidad and Tobago, the religions of the nation were educating children of this country….and that is the historical piece that most people just want to forget,” Archbishop Charles Jason Gordon underscored during Shepherd’s Corner programme Thursday, June 22.

Shepherd’s Corner is a weekly programme on Trinity TV where the Archbishop and host Deacon Derek Walcott explore the Archbishop’s column: ‘Conversations with Archbishop J’ in The Catholic News. Thursday’s discussion focused on the Archbishop’s topic: ‘T&T education needs partnership, not conflict.’

The Archbishop labelled the “scrimmages” between the government and denominational boards and the Teaching Service Commission’s unlawful move to disrupt a “settled” practice as low-level stuff of little importance in the “bigger picture”.

“We have a 19th century education system that we’re running in Trinidad and Tobago right now trying to teach 21st century children. Ultimately, it’s not working, and we have to do better than this. And it can’t happen by government alone, denominational boards alone, parents alone; we need a partnership to move this whole thing forward,” Archbishop Gordon said.

He highlighted if this “vital” conversation does not happen, the children will suffer.

Concordat misinformation

The Archbishop spoke of the high dropout rates, the disappointing performance of students at SEA, CAPE and CSEC and students’ lack of capacity for a reasoned conversation at a graduate level which, he said, signals an existing problem with the education system.

Archbishop Gordon spoke of a “whole new level of education”, the introduction of comprehensive sex education in schools.

He however explained as long as the 1960 Concordat stands, that curriculum cannot be introduced into the nation’s schools. “Because that’s one of the guarantees of the Concordat, that no book, text or curriculum can be introduced into the denominational schools without the consent of the denomination.”

He added, “So we might actually be very important for the government who has been blocking this thing as it can locally… When I see what’s coming down the road, I think we better strengthen our partnership right now,” the Archbishop said.

He referred to the misinformation of the Concordat that has been fuelled by social media and talk show commentators, adding that the Concordat represents a “major gift” given to the country.

The Concordat is an agreement between the government and religious bodies about how they will regulate the relationship around its schools.

“And why that is important is that you have to also guarantee the Catholic nature or the Hindu nature of your school. And so, if we have schools that without the 20 [per cent], there will be very few Catholics in the school,” he said.

Archbishop Gordon underscored persons are not seeing the “real point”, that if these denominations did not have secondary schools, 80 per cent of students would have nowhere to go.

According to the education policy 2017–2022, the denominational boards educate 71.3 per cent of the primary school children in Trinidad and Tobago regardless of race, class, colour, and denomination.

He clarified whether a child is educated through the denominational or government school, the responsibility remains the same.

According to the Archbishop, the Catholic philosophy of education is “completely aligned” with Section 4F of the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago which recognises and declares the right of a parent or guardian to provide a school of his or her own choice for the education of their child.

The Catholic philosophy outlines that the denominations have a responsibility to offer education that aligns with the values and faith of the parents and guardians and to assist them in carrying out their responsibility of educating their children according to their faith and values.

Transform underperforming schools

Archbishop Gordon suggested the government selects 15 schools across the nation, from north, south, east, west and Tobago and develop those schools into convents and colleges. He said society labels success based on academic result but there are other models of success for other types of children.

“That’s where we have to go. So that a child who is not catered for in that first model should come out of school feeling also that they have been successful, and they are ready to contribute to this society. That means we have to have various types of educational offerings given for where we want our society to be over the next 20 to 30 years,” the Archbishop said.

He acknowledged it would require money for infrastructure, teaching staff and ultimately, it would ease the “bottleneck” issue of students wanting to be placed in popular prestige schools.

Archbishop Gordon also mentioned creating “magnet” schools in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) or Visual and Performing Arts, Technical and Vocational education and training, and academies of sports.

“It’s not rocket science. If you have 18,000 children trying to get into 4,000 places, you have to do something to make more places for those children,” the Archbishop reiterated.

He then spoke of a plan to transform underperforming schools in rural and urban communities, an idea first issued by his predecessor Archbishop Joseph Harris CSSp. He provided a set-up cost of $7 billion a year to move education forward in 12 to 15 underperforming schools.

“And that change is relatively expensive for the denominations to do but very cheap by comparison to what it will cost to house those same children in prison 10 years later,” the Archbishop said

By Kaelanne Jordan
mediarelations.camsel@catholictt.org