Q: Archbishop J, what is happening with Catholic Education?

Denominational education is in peril and is being challenged on all sides. Weeks after winning the General Election in 2020, the government decided to pick a fight with the denominational boards.

The Prime Minister and the Minister of Education conducted a series of town hall meetings on the Concordat. There is a lot of miseducation and misinformation on the Concordat in the nation as it is. This fuelled the fire.

The Government announced its decision to set up a committee to review the Concordat and asked the boards to supply a few persons to the committee.

Strange behaviour

What is strange to me is that the signatories of the Concordat in 1960 are Fr Pedro Valdez of the Roman Catholic Church and Hon J S Donaldson, Minister of Education.

One would think that if one party in a contractual relationship believed the contract needed to be reviewed, the conversation would begin with the parties involved. To date the denominational boards have not been invited into a meeting to discuss the Concordat—its merits or demerits—in furtherance of national development.

Dismantling the Concordat

In my first meeting with the new Minister of Education, before the town hall meetings began, she raised the issue of the Concordat as a side issue.

The major challenge of the agreement is the 20 per cent of candidates in that the denomination is allowed to select on the SEA list.

The Government could solve this challenge if it had the political will to do so. If the government selected 15 secondary schools in all parts of the nation, called them colleges and convents and spent the money required to raise their standard to prestige schools, the problem would be solved, or on its way to being solved. Added to this, if they established two or three “magnet schools” in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts) and TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training), in each education district, we would be well on the way to achieving 21st century standards.

You do not achieve national development by dismantling centres of excellence. Rather, you use existing excellence to raise the bar across the board.

What those who cry unfair choose not to see, is that if all the religions did not invest in education, even the 80 per cent assigned, would have nowhere to go.

The school and its property belong to its particular denomination, which has invested valuable resources, both human and financial, to achieve its positive outcomes.

The 20 per cent selection is a small ask when you consider the millions of dollars the boards raise every year to keep the schools going. This is above and beyond what the government spends on our public assisted schools.

More recently the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) unilaterally decided to dismantle a settled practice of filling primary school vacancies that has been in effect for over 60 years. There was no consultation with the boards, only an instruction that there will be a new practice. This decision has caused a delay in filling vacancies.

All of this has created the latest round of antagonism between the denominational boards and the State. The matter has gone to legal counsel. The opinion is that the TSC has acted wrongly. In fact, the TSC has expressly admitted its action is unlawful.

Despite this admission, rather than beginning from this point and restarting the conversation, the TSC seems intent on pursuing an ill-advised, disrespectful, and illegal course of action.

Education in Trinidad and Tobago

According to the Education Policy Paper 2017–2022, the denominational boards educate 71.3 per cent of the primary school children and 32 per cent of secondary school children in the nation. The parents of all these children pay taxes to educate their children. The government is a steward, not an owner.

The Catholic philosophy of education is aligned with Section 4 (f) of the Republican Constitution of 1976 which recognises and declares “the right of a parent or guardian to provide a school of his own choice for the education of his child or ward”.

The denominations have a responsibility to offer education that aligns with the values and faith of the parents or guardians to assist them in carrying out their responsibility.

The State has a responsibility to ensure every child in the nation is educated at a high standard, in alignment with a plan for sustainable national and human development. The healthy relationship of the three are vital.

Let us consider that 200 years ago, Anglicans and Catholics had already established schools. Long before there was a Government of Trinidad and Tobago, religions were educating the children of this country.

The nation would not be where it is today if they did not make a significant commitment to education and thus national development.

Troubling times

While the Government has attacked denominational education from two different sides, there are existential issues that we all must face.

What model of education is necessary for the Trinidad and Tobago we want to become?

Leadership is getting the right people to the right conversation. If the Government had treated the denominational boards as partners, we could have begun this vital conversation to move the nation forward.

Our existing education is failing our children and, by extension, the nation. Look at the crime and violence, the high dropout rate, the disappointing performance rates of students at SEA, CAPE and CSEC and their lack of capacity for reasoned conversation or debate.

Our low productivity rate and the fact that very little seems to be working efficiently in the public sector is borne out by public perception and low scores in the Ease of Doing Business surveys.

The USA, the United Nations and others are putting pressure on CARICOM to introduce comprehensive sex education. This will teach your child that his or her biological sex is not given; that each one could choose to identify as he or she likes.

Children in Barbados underwent an extremely intrusive questionnaire about gender fluidity, masturbation, and other areas of sex education, resulting in a major backlash.

CARICOM is working on a review of its gender policy. The UWI is also working on such a review. And the Government will face significant pressure from international agencies on this matter. As long as the Concordat stands, these things cannot be taught officially in our schools.

New technology like ChatGPT has made knowledge available to everyone in a matter of seconds. Education is no longer about information. It is now about what was called the hidden curriculum—values, faith, character, discerning true from false information—analysing, evaluating, and ultimately using the information for creating, in keeping with the higher ends of Blooms taxonomy.

Many schools in our poorest communities are failing. We have worked out a plan to transform our underperforming schools. It will cost a mere $7M TT. Government has yet to engage this conversation which was proposed four years ago.

We also have migrant children in our nation who are not being educated because of an ineffective, inefficient government system, resulting in more unnecessary bureaucracy. They are at risk of gang recruitment.

At the crossroads

Government needs to decide what it wants. If it wants an unnecessary fight with the boards, so be it. This is a fight I am prepared to fight alongside all other denominational boards.

If, however, we want to do the very difficult and challenging work of reimagining T&T education for the 21st century, that would be a much better use of our time, talent, and energy.

We cannot do both. We do not have the bandwidth to both fight with each other and evolve a 19th century education infrastructure to serve a 21st century child and ultimately the nation.

 

Key Message:

The religious denominations have been educating the children of this nation for hundreds of years. To move the nation forward to 21st century education, we need a partnership between the government, the denominational boards, and parents.

Action Step:

Reflect on how you deal with conflict. Do you fight first, or see resolution first? Choose one conflict and work towards a resolution.

Scripture Reading:

Philippians 4:6–7