Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh says there are no plans to curtail extra-curricular activities in the nation's schools. He said, however, written permission for those activities must be given by his ministry.
Gopeesingh said that during yesterday's post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair. He said the move was being implemented to ensure that students get the maximum amount of time to study during school hours. Gopeesingh said research done at certain unnamed school between September and December last year revealed that "there were 26 half-days of no teaching of the students." He said that was the result of denominational boards taking time out for their retreats and principal holidays.
He said teaching time was also being taken away by projects organised by corporate bodies, NGOs, CBOs and faith-based organisations. He said the projects were "creating some chaos and confusion in the (education) system and were taking away students and teachers from the schools from their valued time of teaching and learning." Gopeesingh said those practices must cease "until we meet with the corporate bodies and entities to ensure that there is congruence with what they are doing and the ministry's strategic plan." He said recently a school from central Trinidad went abroad for a cricket game and no permission was granted for it. He said the ministry was responsible for the students on international travel.
Gopeesingh said his ministry was intent on ensuring there are extra-curricular activities in schools. He said such activities must be supervised by teachers at the school. He said physical education and the visual and performing arts are to be incorporated in the curriculum. Gopeesingh said denominational boards have been informed of the performance of their respective schools in the Secondary Entrance Assessment exam. He said information from the past five years were given to the boards to indicate the need for improvements to ensure better results. Gopeesingh then raised the issue of religious education being taught in schools. He said his ministry wanted teachers to "to teach about religion, not religion." He stressed that there was a difference.
Gopeesingh said he would heed the call of local newspapers which had advised that he "thread carefully" with that matter. He said, however, that he had not received any requests from the media for more information about the proposal. In clarifying the matter yesterday, Gopeesingh said teaching about religion in T&T was not new. He said religious personnel from the various faiths visited the schools to teach about religion but the programme was not being done on a sustained basis. He said the measure was aimed at "ensuring that our children are aware of the spiritual and cultural diversity that is the hallmark of the unity country in which we live."