On Mon­day, more than 200,000 stu­dents will file through the gates of pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary schools across the coun­try to be­gin a new aca­d­e­m­ic year. But T&T’s ed­u­ca­tion sys­tem is at a break­ing point: par­ents are strain­ing un­der ris­ing costs, teach­ers face over­crowd­ed class­rooms and in­ad­e­quate re­sources, and the sys­tem of­ten works against, not for, those it is meant to serve.

Be­neath the “back-to-school” en­er­gy, per­sis­tent fail­ures un­der­mine T&T’s ed­u­ca­tion sys­tem. Too many schools are crum­bling and un­safe. Vi­o­lence and in­dis­ci­pline are ram­pant, with gangs prey­ing on the most vul­ner­a­ble. The SEA ex­am­i­na­tion locks chil­dren’s fu­tures in place too ear­ly, re­in­forc­ing in­equal­i­ty. Mean­while, too many grad­u­ates leave school un­pre­pared for the work­force, while tech­ni­cal and vo­ca­tion­al ed­u­ca­tion are side­lined.

This is the trou­bled land­scape await­ing Dr Michael Dowlath, the new Min­is­ter of Ed­u­ca­tion. A re­tired ed­u­ca­tor with decades of class­room and ad­min­is­tra­tive ex­pe­ri­ence, he un­der­stands these prob­lems in­ti­mate­ly. But fa­mil­iar­i­ty alone will not suf­fice. Ap­point­ed on­ly months ago af­ter the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress Gen­er­al Elec­tion vic­to­ry, Dowlath must demon­strate quick­ly that his lead­er­ship marks a de­ci­sive break from busi­ness as usu­al.

His first test is restor­ing pub­lic trust in the min­istry. Years of de­layed school re­pairs and half-com­plet­ed projects have bred cyn­i­cism among par­ents and teach­ers alike. Too many chil­dren have been dis­placed or forced in­to un­safe build­ings while ex­cus­es piled up. If the Min­is­ter is se­ri­ous about change, he must en­sure schools open on time, prop­er­ly re­paired and equipped, and hold con­trac­tors and min­istry of­fi­cials ac­count­able when they fail.

Yet, the cri­sis runs deep­er than bricks and mor­tar. The cur­ricu­lum re­mains trapped in the last cen­tu­ry, still em­pha­sis­ing rote learn­ing and high-stakes ex­ams over cre­ativ­i­ty, crit­i­cal think­ing, and dig­i­tal skills. While the world races ahead with ar­ti­fi­cial in­tel­li­gence, re­new­able en­er­gy, and green in­dus­tries, too many of T&T’s stu­dents are be­ing left be­hind. Re­form­ing what is taught—and how it is taught—can­not be post­poned.

Equal­ly ur­gent is the cul­ture of vi­o­lence and in­dis­ci­pline that in­fects too many schools. It is no se­cret that gangs re­cruit di­rect­ly from sec­ondary class­rooms. Teach­ers can­not shoul­der this bur­den alone. Schools need prop­er­ly trained coun­sel­lors, men­tal health sup­port, and se­cu­ri­ty mea­sures that are con­sis­tent, not re­ac­tive.

What this coun­try needs is an ed­u­ca­tion sys­tem that gives every child—not just the priv­i­leged few—a fair chance at suc­cess and an Ed­u­ca­tion Min­istry that lis­tens, con­sults, and de­liv­ers.

Min­is­ter Dowlath can­not plead ig­no­rance of the ed­u­ca­tion sys­tem’s fail­ings. His ca­reer means he knows them all too well. That is pre­cise­ly why the pub­lic will judge him more harsh­ly if he falls back on the same tired ex­cus­es.

The mes­sage as schools re­open must be clear: T&T’s ed­u­ca­tion sys­tem is in cri­sis and needs de­ci­sive ac­tion, not busi­ness as usu­al. Dowlath has a nar­row win­dow to act: set a six-month time­line for cur­ricu­lum re­form, fin­ish all pend­ing school re­pairs by mid-2026, fill teacher va­can­cies and roll out manda­to­ry teacher train­ing in dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy and class­room man­age­ment with­in the year, and im­ple­ment men­tal health and se­cu­ri­ty sup­port in all sec­ondary schools by 2026.

If these bench­marks are missed, an­oth­er gen­er­a­tion of chil­dren will pay the price. The time for promis­es has passed—this is a mo­ment for mea­sur­able re­sults.