RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Teach­ers can blos­som as ed­u­ca­tors if there is prop­er lead­er­ship from prin­ci­pals and a strong sup­port from par­ents says Ro­man Catholic priest Mon­sign­or Chris­t­ian Per­reira.

He was speak­ing to re­porters at the 66th an­nu­al Con­ven­tion of the Catholic Teach­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion of Trinidad and To­ba­go held at the St Bene­dict’s Ro­man Catholic Church yes­ter­day. Per­reira said many schools were fac­ing chal­lenges be­cause of the in­fil­tra­tion of crime and drugs.

How­ev­er, he said spe­cial pro­grammes were be­ing held at schools to ed­u­cate stu­dents about the dan­gers.

Say­ing the col­lege was un­der­go­ing a pe­ri­od of tran­si­tion, Per­reira said some in­fra­struc­tur­al prob­lems com­bined with so­cial ills had af­fect­ed some stu­dents. How­ev­er, he said the gov­ern­ment had promised to grant 14 acres of land to the RC Church so that a new St Bene­dicts Col­lege could be con­struct­ed.

“At this time the col­lege is in a bit of tran­si­tion as we look­ing to ex­pand and move for­ward a bit with the col­lege. We are hop­ing to get the sup­port of the Min­istry and the col­lege for the nec­es­sary land. We are hap­py with the way things are go­ing. The La Ro­maine RC is show­ing a great sign of re­vival in terms of their aca­d­e­mics and the spir­it of the teach­ers and the stu­dents. I know in a few oth­er ar­eas in TT, the pri­ma­ry schools un­der the par­tic­u­lar lead­er­ship are show­ing a great com­mit­ment to build­ing the young peo­ple in the com­mu­ni­ties,” Per­reira said.

Say­ing he was con­scious of the drug trade and the re­al­i­ties it posed, Per­reira said, “We had a big fu­ner­al for a drug deal­er who want­ed to re­form his life but got killed. His son is in our First Com­mu­nion class. Drugs are not the most im­por­tant thing to look af­ter. We are con­cern about it. We are con­cerned about the in­fil­tra­tion of drugs and crime in the com­mu­ni­ty but we are al­so try­ing to build the ca­pa­bil­i­ty of the com­mu­ni­ty,” Per­reira added.

He de­nied that teach­ers were not equipped to make a dif­fer­ence in the lives of stu­dents.

“We need strong lead­er­ship in schools to en­able teach­ers to give all that they can. Teach­ers are equipped and ca­pa­ble. We need to see greater team­work among staff, greater lead­er­ship from prin­ci­pals and greater sup­port from the PTA and Busi­ness As­so­ci­a­tions. This will en­able teach­ers to blos­som. We trust that they will give of them­selves and put trust in God to re­vive the Catholic iden­ti­ty in schools,” Per­reira added.

He added that once the gov­ern­ment grants the land the church can move for­ward with de­signs and its vi­sion for a new St Bene­dicts Col­lege. Per­reira said they hoped that the new col­lege can be built with­in the next few years.