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Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly –

SOME 2,700 pupils have registered for remedial lessons due to start on Monday to boost pupils scoring under 50 per cent in the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) Exam as they head to secondary school, said a Ministry of Education statement on Friday. Walk-in pupils will be accepted, the ministry emphasised.

A fortnight ago Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said 9,000 pupils ought to do this programme at their nearest secondary school. She had said the programme would cost $10 million.

The latest statement said, “The Ministry of Education’s Vacation Revision Programme (VRP) begins at 33 centres across Trinidad on Monday July 18, and runs until August 12.

“Over 2,700 students have registered, and parents are advised that schools designated as VRP centres will accept walk-in registration of students for the VRP during the week of July 18th-22nd, 2022.”

The programme will provide a targeted revision in Mathematics, English Language Arts and Writing.

“Students will also partake in activities such as music and drama, and all students will be provided with breakfast and lunch over the course of the programme.”

Teachers have received guidance from the ministry’s curriculum division.

“In addition to academic and visual and performing arts (VAPA) content, psychosocial support will also be provided to students and parents through the Student Support Services Division at the VRP.”

As a bonus, the ministry is piloting a caravan to inspire VRP pupils to stay the course and push forward despite their academic, social or economic challenges.

“The caravan will team up with social media, entertainment, sporting and community based influencers who will share their journey with the students, to inspire and motivate them.

“The Turn Up, Don’t Give Up Caravan will allow students to engage with speakers, win prizes for their participation in the focused motivation sessions and also get information on community and volunteer type groups and other opportunities to enhance themselves.

The ministry encouraged parents to register eligible students for the VRP.

Previously Gadsby-Dolly had promised small class sizes of no more than 15 students.

Lessons will run from 9 am-3 pm, taught by 600 teachers from primary and secondary schools.

She had blamed this year’s lower than usual SEA performance on fallout from pandemic restrictions.

“The percentage of students scoring above 50 per cent in the SEA in 2022 was 37.06 per cent.” This was a drop from 63 per cent in 2020 and 52 per cent in 2021.

Gadsby-Dolly said the SEA mean scores compared to last year were: Mathematics 41.9 per cent (with 46.9 per cent last year); English Language Arts Writing 44.3 per cent (56.2 per cent last year) and English Language Arts 44.39 per cent (56.6 per cent last year).

Otherwise, in a message to parents of those low-scoring pupils carded to resit the SEA Exam , she had said, “At this time it is difficult but I urge you to give them hope, give them encouragement. Let them know that this is not the end.”

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Ulric Skerritt –

One of the attorneys for a group of officers detained in a homicide investigation arising out of the police killing for three men in Morvant just over two years ago said the arrest of his clients seems to be influenced by public pressure to charge officers in the face of a rash of police killings which have sparked public condemnation.

In a statement, Ulric Skerritt, a former police officer, said he was “saddened by the turn of events.”

“Whilst I am always on the side of law and order and like any citizen expects that officers must be true to their oath, it has become a disturbing trend when statements which are diametrically opposed to that of officers involved in shootings are taken as credible and the question of inquests are abandoned.”

“We have armed our officers to protect the lives of citizens including their own. However, the latest trend seems to be to bow to public pressure and seek to charge officers on the flimsiest of evidence ‘they never had nutten.’ This is clearly dangerous and will have the ultimate effect of officers becoming quite hesitant to use their firearms in the face of lethal attacks to their own detriment and that of members is public.”

Skerritt said the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard SC, an independent office holder, to visit the scene of the crime is “clearly taking on the role of investigative rather than an advisory one.”

He also criticised the Police Complaints Authority, an independent civilian oversight body, whose job is to investigate serious acts of misconduct, including murder, by police officers for making public comments in its findings on matters which are still under police investigation.

Skerritt says such statements have “the effect of being severely prejudicial to the investigation and the mind of the public”

He urged, “restraint is necessary.”

Six of the officers who were detained are being represented by Skerritt and a team of attorneys led by senior counsel Israel Khan. The are to be questioned under caution about their role in the June 27, 2020 shooting incident at Juman Drive, Second Caledonia, Morvant where Joel Jacob, Noel Diamond and Israel Moses Clinton were killed.

While Skerritt did not identify any recent comment by the PCA, acting CoP McDonald Jacob has also urged caution and the risk of pre-trial publicity after the body stated that it found the worst case of abuse by officers of the Western Division who deliberately misled Jacob in the shooting incident on April 22, at Richplain, Diego Martin where PC Clarence Gilkes was killed.

Officers had claimed Gilkes was shot during a confrontation by men armed with rifles but an autopsy showed that a police bullet killed Gilkes and the suspect, Jehalno Romney, who was being hunted for the officer’s murder is now the key witness against at least three police officers, now on suspension, in a homicide investigation.

The head of the division, Snr Supt Kelvern Thompson, has also been transferred to the Transport and Telecom Branch during the probe.

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door Arjen Stikvoort PARAMARIBO— De desinfecterende citronellageur komt je tegemoet. Het ruikt fris en schoon. Het sanitair van het André

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The Desnoes & Geddes (D&G) Foundation has extended its partnership with the HEART Trust NSTA to deliver bartending, customer service and merchandising training to 1,500 unattached youth through the Learning for Life (L4L) Programme this year.

Trainees will also benefit from paid short-term employment under the internship element of the programme.

The programme provides a second chance for unattached and vulnerable young adults between 18 and 35 years old, imparting skills used in the hospitality, retail, enterprise, bartending, and agriculture sectors that can stimulate income-generating opportunities and first-time employment. Learning for Life also teaches soft skills like financial literacy, professional comportment, and communication skills.

According to D&G Foundation Accountant Dennis Beckford, “Merchandising, customer service and bartending are among the most in-demand skills right now in the hospitality industry. By coupling lessons in these areas with soft skills like budgeting, and other interpersonal skills, we are preparing the students to transition smoothly into the world of work. This year, we are targeting at least 100 persons from each parish to receive training. As a result of our partnership with HEART, we have already seen high attendance levels in our classrooms.”

One location with an exceptionally high uptake for the programme is Portmore, St Catherine.

The bartending programme, which convenes weekly at the Marine Park Community Centre in Braeton, already has over 20 students. Several of the trainees have expressed a desire to pursue jobs in the hospitality industry and on cruise ships or to open their own establishments.

Twenty-three-year-old entrepreneur Zavaughn Cheeke from Dunbeholden started practising drink mixes at home in his spare time and decided to join the programme to gain formal training to kickstart his career in the cruise industry.

“I know that cruise ships have an active recruitment drive in Jamaica and the Caribbean. I am preparing myself to one day take advantage of that opportunity. This is my second week in the programme. In week one, we learned about career advancement and how to prepare yourself for the world of work. We learned how to prepare our resume and change it depending on the job we’re applying for and how to operate in a professional environment. I am looking forward to learning financial skills this week because that is knowledge that everyone needs to learn. My ultimate goal is to start a bar and lounge,” said Cheeke.

“HEART’s role in this partnership is to reach out and make contact with potential students for the programme and use our employment training structure to facilitate Red Stripe’s lessons”, shared HEART National Service Core Programme (NSCP) Empowerment Officer Duane Isaacs.

He continued, “The ultimate objective is to have students engaged, trained, interned and ultimately employed and able to make a meaningful contribution to society and the economy. So far, students have been excited and, more importantly, involved. Word has spread, and we’re getting a lot of interest from new students who want to join; we have already started gathering people for a second group. This is a promising sign.”

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Vendredi 15 Juillet 2022 – 21h51

L’Agence régionale de santé (ARS) informe, ce vendredi 15 juillet, de la découverte d’un premier cas confirmé de Monkeypox (communément appelé la variole du singe) en Martinique. 

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