Education Minister Anthony Garcia says a national consultation on education will be held early next year to address indiscipline in schools.
Speaking at the T&T Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) 36th annual conference of delegates, Garcia said the national consultation also would deal with the continued use of corporal punishment, a review of the curriculum, as well as a revisitation of the Concordat of 1960.
Saying he hoped to reintroduce the teaching of T&T's history in all schools, Garcia called on the teachers to rise to the challenges which exists in the classrooms.
“One of the major challenges we are facing in our nation’s schools is indiscipline.
We can ensure all our schools have students who are high achievers. We have to ensure teachers are respected wherever they go and society will continue to smile on all our teachers,” Garcia said.
Saying technology must be integrated carefully into the education system, Garcia revealed:
“Very early next term, we will be embarking on a national consultation on education.
“We will be looking closely at discipline, review of curriculum, the introduction of teaching of history of T&T in schools and reform of the continuous assessment component.”
Assuring that the curriculum will be reformed, Garcia also vowed to address “the inordinate delay in filling of vacancies in schools.
“We will look at the Concordat with the aim of review. We are not going to do away with the Concordat. That arrangement has stood the test of time but there are certain aspects of the Concordat that we must revisit,” the minister said.
He added he could not understand why students were given laptops but not teachers.
“We have budgetary allocations for laptops in schools but we insist that laptops must be meaningful tools that will aid in the implementation of the curriculum,” Garcia added.
He urged the teachers to work with the ministry as it attempts to improve the quality of education in T&T.
WHAT IS CONCORDAT
The Concordat is a 14-point document which outlines the rights of denominational boards in the administration of education in their schools.
Published in December 1960, the document guides the relationship between churches and the Ministry of Education in the provision of education to T&T’s children.
It was revised in 1999 and a report was handed to the then Prime Minister Basdeo Panday.
However, no changes were made. In 2006 denominational boards took issue with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the Ministry of Education that they felt might replace the Concordat.