Education system failing children — Councillor
By COREY CONNELLY, Sunday, February 24 2013, Source
A councillor of the San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation said yesterday that the education system focussed too much on passing examinations as opposed to the promotion of life skills.
As such, Akil Audain, who represents the electoral district of Beetham/Picton, believes the existing system was failing many children, particularly in hotspot communities.
“The education system deals too much with passing exams and not on developing life skills,” he told reporters at the launch of an anti-crime initiative to upgrade the Straker Village basketball facilities at Fort Picton, Laventille.
The initiative, which is being undertaken by the Ministry of Sports in conjunction with the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago, came in the wake of the killing of community activist Floyd Corridon, who was shot near his home on Wednesday.
A basketball development programme will also be initiated in honour of Derrick “Cornbread” James, captain of the Trinidad and Tobago Basketball team.
While grateful for the ministry’s intervention in upgrading the community’s basketball facilities, acknowledging the gesture will assist in the fight against crime, Audain said greater emphasis also needed to be placed on activities to develop the intellect of young children.
“While we are pushing cricket, football and basketball down their throats - not everyone will be able to kick a ball - why can’t we have things like chess and scrabble to raise their intellect?” he asked.
Referring to Pythagoras’ Theorem (the relationship between the three sides of a right-handed triangle in Mathematics), Audain said many of the theories he had learnt in school as a child could have been applied to daily life.
“But in today’s system, many of the times you are not seeing how it can be applied,” he added.
Saying that sports was just one mechanism to help reduce crime and delinquency, Audain said many parents were also incapable of assisting their children with homework, either through lack of education or work demands. As such, he said, many children were left up to their own devices.
Meanwhile, Director of Physical Education and Sport Dave Bobb said the facility, which is expected to be outfitted with washroom and changing facilities, was needed given the stigma attached to the area.
“It will heal and mend some of the wounds caused in communities not having proper courts and playing facilities,” he said, adding that the initiative will allow people in the community to channel their energies in a positive activity.
Earlier, Bobb urged a handful of residents to develop a proposal for the facility, which will then be taken to the ministry for approval.
“We have already begun preparing estimates for 2013-2014,” he said, adding that the court should be opened in six months time or less.
One woman said she hoped the project would come to fruition as residents were tired of broken promises.