PM reminds Fathers of their significant roles

 In a Father's Day address to the nation, Prime Minister Honourable Dr. Kenny Anthony invited all fathers, step fathers and grandfathers to take time to contemplate their roles as fathers.

The reality of Saint Lucian society, the Prime Minister said is far from perfect, with many families hurting due to difficult situations arising from abusive men and irresponsible fathers.

“Men, we cannot be macho and proclaim to be men if we don’t try our best to be good fathers. Perhaps the words of Pope John the twenty third are an apt point: “It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father.”
The Prime Minister paid tribute to the many single mothers who toil hard to perform the roles of both mother and father to their children.
Also, Dr. Anthony said there are many uncles and grandfathers who step in and play a supporting role where fathers are not around. “To the dads who need to mend “things” with their children and families, be brave and take the first step. Bring peace, joy and love to your families. To the men who are doing a great job supporting their families and loving their children as best as they can, keep at it, and be role models for all. To the single dads, and those who have adopted children into families of love, I pay special tribute to you.”
Prime Minister Anthony who is himself a proud father of three urged all fathers to look back at their successes and failings of the past; and to see how the relationships and the paths that they have chosen for their lives can be enhanced by their future decisions.

Source: Government website

Will Dugard Top The List In 2012?

   A whole year of preparations has passed where the grade six teachers of the Constituency put forward all the skills they have in order to impart the knowledge required to pass this defining test - Common Entrance.

When the results are in, this is where we separate the men from the boys or the ladies from the girls, whichever way you want it.

In school rankings in the constituency Dugard Combined reigns head over heels. For two consecutive years now they have held the top position. ( on more than one occasion a student from the school have topped the list as well)Thanks to the hard work of retired principal, Mrs Clara Edwards and of course the teacher Ms Veronica Stanislas. One should never forget that the other teachers of the school did play a part in whatever small way to bring this school to its status. Having a new principal now, it would be interesting to see if the school under her watch can carry on Mrs Edwards’ legacy.

It is no big thing when it comes to the student who gets the top marks in their school, although the parent would feel elated. But consider that school performing way below the National Mean. What does it say of the teacher? (don’t you dare blame the children) I have noticed a kind of relaxed attitude by a number of grade six teachers since the introduction of Universal Education. Teachers don’t push work anymore, like in my days. They are very aware that whether they work hard or not their students will pass anyways. But it reflects in the grades of the children when hard work is not done. Poor grades defines a lazy,weak, and a “ pa melee” attitude teacher.

The other issues which this blog needs to take to task are the poor grades in math as well as the low performance of the boys. With regards to the math it is this blog’s opinion that many of these grade six teachers were never good at math anyway.. Many of them and examination analysis have clearly shown that their problem solving skills are below 40%. What a tragedy for our children! The District Education Branch Office should make it mandatory to get these weak math teachers into a summer workshop to revitalize their math teaching methods least our children suffer more.

Too many female teachers? Is that the reason for the poor performance of our boys> No male role model in grade six? Is that yet another reason. Poor parenting? And another? Whatever be the reason for our boys being lower achievers than the girls is an area of study that should be pursued.

Soon results will be out and we will get to know the top and last school , we will get to know which school met the National mean, we will also get to know the top student from each school and finally we will get to know where our schools ranked among the island’s schools..

Good luck to all. This blog awaits with bated breath.

Roblot Library to Be Relocated

   

The authorities that be, have decided to relocate the Roblot Library to a section at the Roblot Combined School soon. According to the librarian, Mrs Trudy Henry, they are taking precautionary measures to secure the equipment and books because of the condition of the section as well as the upcoming hurricane season.  But one may ask, why wasn’t the decision taken since last year?  Is there some other underlying reason? The library is presently being housed in a section of the Roblot Community Centre which was damaged during the passage of hurricane Tomas in 2010.

      The library is not safe. The community Centre is roofless and the partition which separates the section which the library is housed from the roofless and dilapidated centre is already rotting away. The library’s roof which was partly blown away was fixed but during heavy rains one can see numerous leaking spots in the roof.  Actually if you are using any computer during a shower the librarian has to warn you where to sit for fear of a leak right over your machine. Persons using the library are continuously distracted by the noise of children and teenagers running up and down in the roofless centre.     The electrical source which feeds the library is exposed to the elements of the weather. The meter is still on the roofless Centre so is the main switch. What madness!                The cheers by the sports enthusiasts for the sportsmen during activities on the multi-purpose court, is also another distraction for the library user.But what are the disadvantages of the library transfer (hope it is temporary) on the community. The residents of the communities of La Maze, Roblot and Debreuil are very territorial. They cherish what is theirs and though not outwardly showing it are not too pleased when “outsiders” use their facilities. On more than one occasion the Community Development officer have tried to have one Committee to see after the affairs of the three communities mentioned above and on every occasion this committee broke down. The library was mostly being used by the school children with a few adults coming in now, mostly to access the internet.  There is almost a sense of certainty that Roblot Children may not go back down to Debreuil to access the net after school. La Maze children most times would stop at Roblot on their way up to use the library services and would after completion take a cool walk to La maze. Do you see them stopping off at Debreuil? For sure persons at Debreuil will use the facilities to their fullest.

      However the move to relocate the library is a good one, if the intention is genuine, although some persons oppose it for reasons of territory. Like one irate resident puts it, “They took our school from us and now they take away our library and we have no Centre. Roblot finish.”  A Roblot secondary school student remarked, “Instead of moving the library to Debreuil, why could they not renovate it?” This blog thinks that the environment will be better and a larger section of the school children will have access to the World Wide Web. One may very well see students now coming to school with their lap tops. Lunchtime and break will surely be hectic for the librarian.

How long this transfer will last, no one knows. Until a Multi-purpose Centre is constructed in Roblot one may very well see the library remaining in Debreuil for a long time. Roblotians better get used to it.

     A recurrent feature: Roblot Combined School to Debreuil   1982 – 1983 and now Roblot Library to Debreil 2012. Don’t be surprised if the reconstruction of the Roblot Community Centre takes place in Debreuil.

CHOISEUL/SALTIBUS – THE MOST TAKEN FOR GRANTED CONSTITUENCY

    “Any Tom, Dick and Harry can come to this constituency and pull it off in a general election.” So says a  female political analysis. Surprised to hear this? Me too, at the time, but have since concurred with the lady. When it comes to elections the voters of the constituency seem to be poor decision makers. Why is this so? This blog thinks that the hype during campaigns takes away all forms of constructive reasoning coupled with a little hand-out here and there. But can you blame them in this guava season?

     I have witnessed numerous candidates fight their guts out to win this seat: JMD Bousquet, Brian Charles, Evans Calderon, Gregor Mason, Gilroy Satney, Rufus Bousquet, Ferguson John,Tennyson Joseph and Lorne Theophilus. With the exception of Brian all of the rest as far as this blog is concerned were imported. Who had given those so called importers the right to decide for us that those were the persons we wanted to represent us in case they won? Evans from La Clery, Rufus from Rodney Heights,Lorne, and Gregor from Gros Islet, Gilroy from Vieux fort, Ferguson from England Tennyson Joseph from Bardados, JMD Bousquet from Castries, while Brian was home based. With the exception of Brian all of the others had no interest in the constituency and they were forced upon us and we foolishly and blindly elected those we presume would lift us from the mud.

Scenario 1. JMD Bousquet left Castries and was invited to run the Choiseul seat after Gilbert Mason, Gregor’s father died. Although seeing Bousquet for the first time, Choiseulians voted him over Ives John during a bye-election. According to the generation Bousquet served they said he gave a good account of himself.

    Scenario 2. In spite of Bousquet’s good representation Calderon (Pye) came down from La Clery and beat Bousquet .That killed the Bousquet.

Scenario 3. Brian, the home boy won in a three cornered fight with Gregor and Gilroy. Calderon came back from nowhere and beat Brian. ( Choiseu tiway tweep epi maytae boyo)

Scenario 4. Rufus , brought down from Rodney Hieghts by Devotion replaced Brian in general election and beat Calderon. Rufus a complete stranger to Choiseulians running on his father’s name. (See what I mean)  Two foreigners running to represent us.

Scenario 5. Ferguson, practicing law in England is called down to replace calderon and he beats Rufus hands down. That year Labour beat UWP 16 – 1.

Scenario 6. Rufus gets another whooping by Ferguson and in the following election Tennyson replaces Ferguson and Rufus beats him. May be a little reasoning was shown there by the electorate as the voted Rufus whom they had previously known over Tennyson the Barbadian. Rufus did fairly well using the Taiwanese funds, though to some pundits not efficiently enough

Scenario 7.  Lorne from Gros Islet whom most  Choiseulians know nothing about replaces Tennyson and beats Rufus. Again we see the stranger over the known candidate.

Whatever seems to be the driving forces that motivate Choiseulians to vote so erratically needs a special study. This habit is not about to change soon unless Choiseulians demand that persons wanting to represent them from come from and live in the constituency. Moses Jn. Baptiste and cecil lay are typical examples.

It is so pathetic to see how some persons rally behind these politicians during election time. Once the seat is won its “nothing doing” until four years later when one sees revived interest by the politician in the people once more.

This cannot be allowed to continue and as of now, both sides of the political divide need to find Choiseul-based individuals to run, come next election 2016 or sooner.

Choiseul/Saltibus can’t take it no more and must be in search of BETTER DAYS.

Another Nothing Doing 100 Days For The Rep

Today marks two hundred days since the Labour Party came into office or to be more specific it is now two hundred days since Lorne Theophilus is the Choiseul /Saltibus Rep. In a previous post this blog looked at his first hundred days in office and not much could be talked about with regards to performance. This second hundred days seem no differrent than the first. Maybe the Rep is still finding his feet.

Let’s take a look at his achievements in the constituency (if you want to call them so) over the past 100 days.

1.       Labourites STEPPED in style with a smile on their faces (the sour faces are back)

2.       The fish pond was cleared {since then it has refilled)

3.       Appointment of Village Council

4.       Retaining walls at LaMaze and Victoria (Rufus proposed projects)

5.       Non Visibility in the constituency

This blog notes with particular interest achievement number 5. The following is Lorne’s opening statement during the House debate on the Estimates of expenditure.

“Mr Speaker, I rise in support of the motion that the report of the Standing Finance Committee Mr Speaker be adopted. But Mr Speaker, before I embark on my contribution to this debate on the estimates, I wish to crave your indulgence Mr Speaker, for permitting me to specially thank the constituents of Choiseul/Saltibus for the support that was given to me in the general elections and I also wish to thank them for their patience, as for these past few months have been difficult ones for me as I adjust to the business of government and the workings of the ministries under my charge, which at times Mr speaker I must admit have precluded me from having the visibility I would like within my constituency.”

“I thank the people of Choiseul and Saltibus and reassure them that their trust in me and the St Lucia Labour Party is well placed and together with my colleagues in government we will weather every storm in our quest for better days.”
Pay special attention to  highlighted section  of what Famkidou, a Lorne supporter once said. 

• Famkidou Aimable: This is what i was talking about. This uplifts this wbpagee, showing a man with great humility, one who genuinely cares and who will bring help raise the standard of all choiseulians and not just some. Thanks webmaster for considering my suggestion.

  March 11, 2011 at 9:38am ·  

  
  

  Guess she must be choking on these words now.

People’s patience has run out and this blog is confident that by now the Rep has adjusted to the business and workings of government and his ministries respectively. So why is he not more visible?  Does he believe that the Village Council can do his work for him?  Recently the Council visted the residents of Roblot asking the people what they would like done for them. What madness! Council barely gets a subvention of about $25, 00.00 quarterly. Puppets of Lorne trying to make amends for his lack of visibility. The people voted for him not the Council. Is it true that our Rep is already contemplating to run the Gros Islet seat comes next election when this constituency will be divided in two?  And it is also alleged that he the Rep will smartly pass the baton to Edgar. Choiseul, wake up! 

Many of the “en rouge” fans are vex. What they were expecting seems to be a fleeting illusion. In every single corner of the constituency supporters as well as non-supporters of the Rep are clearly showing their outrage at his non visibility stunt. Frankly this blog thinks that the Rep does not care two hoots about Choiseul. Choiseul was forewarned. Lorne needs to step up to the plate or step out.

Y.E.P. Lorne spelt out that H.O.P.E. will make Choiseul S.M.I.L.E. as they S.T.E.P. in style. Choiseulians  are yet to see the commencement of the youth agricultural program, the Constituency development program, the Koudment St lucie, the footpaths and the rest of the programs he so eloquently mentioned in his presentation in the House.  His cronies will argue give him time but really the rep has started on the wrong foot by not making his presence felt in the constituency.

It will be very interesting to see the number of projects and programs for Choiseul that the rep mentioned in this year’s budget that will be achieved. This blog has been making the point that Lorne was given Choiseul on a silver platter, meaning that almost all infrastructural works was completed and his duty now is to develop the human resource

 Do you see the light at the end of the tunnel? Actually it looks bleak. Another disappointing 100 days. More to come? Your guess is as good as mine.

Choiseul 2012 Carnival a No No?

    Carnival fans from Mongouge, Saltibus and the Village have been calling the talk shows inquiring about the status of Choiseuil carnival this year. Actually no one seems to be hearing from the Carnival Development Committee nor from the gentleman who over the years  have galvanized or motivated the whole carnival movement.
The past celebrations have been well received by the general public not to mention the queen pageant which has always been well attended.This year seems to be a no no for carnival or are the organizors waiting for October as they did last year only to come up disappointing the masses.
  On more than one occassion past carnival celebrations have been sponsored to the tune of $10,000.00 or more by the former Rep who took a genuine interest in the development of the creative art. At his office, one could see thank you plaques from the Carnival Committee thanking Rufus for his contribution towards Choiseul carnival.
   One may ask where am I going with this? Not far. Is the carnival committee functioning? Have they approached the Rep, (who for your information is the Minister responsible for carnival) for sponsorship? ( If Rufus could get $10,000.000, Lorne too can get it) Remember in the budget that $1.1M has been set aside as grants and donations for this year's carnival? Are Ms Modeste  and Mac not interested  in tapping into this resource? Has the economic hardships now facing the country made it impossible for the groups to start their bands?  The public wants to know.

We should not forget the creative talent of the band organisors. This young lady at Delcer who designed the Pitons band comes to mind. Carnival revelers in the constituency are up in arms and want carnival this year..
     Again, one continues to see the effects of Lorne's negligence and non visits to the constituency. Even his office one will notice seems to be closed all the time. Where is he to be contacted? This blog have tried to get an interview with him but to no avail.
No school's calypso, no carnival I wonder what will be a no no next in Choiseul.
.

Have Our Principals Failed Our Children?

    Many Choiseulians watching NTN broadcast the live Schools’ Calypso Competition yesterday afternoon would have recalled the 1990’s when the Roblot Combined School hosted numerous in-house calypso shows. These shows were well received by the general public who looked forward every year for the show. These were the days when the school Principal Mrs. Lucy Nicholas was interested in the overall development of the child. These were the days when the other primary schools had music teachers and did not see it fit to make music an integral part of the curriculum. These were the days when music was regarded as just an en passant subject by the other primary school s in the district. But this was not with the visionary Principal of the Roblot Combined School. She was very much into music and felt that with music the students would perform even better academically. This proved to be right as at one time during these years her school passed the Common Entrance National School Mean. Bravo!

   Of course, no one had to tell you that she had the unwavering support of your humble servant as well as other members of her staff. Teachers like Dave, Paulette, Kieth and I were the song writers, not to forget the infamous “Corcorlock Socks” which was written by Lucy herself. Most of the singers came for grade five and six: Kent, Webster, Dane and Dave, Nolan, Anicia, Teddy, and Emylyn are just few of our large repertoire.

    Patrons will no doubt remember songs like “All the committee does do”, ‘Fire Fire”, “Coco Makak”, Drinking and driving”, Mr. Wasa" and “Mr. Politician.” Teddy, “Small boy” rendition of “Election time” was a smasher which gained him 3^rd place in the National School’s Calypso Competition in 1997.The Roblot school calypso died when Lucy retired and even more so when I retired in 2000.

It must have been painfully embarrassing to the educators, especially the principals (both  from the primary and secondary schools) to have noticed not one school from the constituency was represented at the 2012 National Schools Calypso Competition . Could it have also been embarrassing for our Rep. who is the Minister for Creative Arts to have been among his compatriots and asked by them “Where were your schools?” , did not see any of them perform?’ He could have very well replied, “Dem jokers en ready yet.” Quite rightly so.

    Our present day Choiseul school principals take no interest in extra curricula activities for our children. Yet they are unable to have our children perform at a high level academically. The results among our boys is distressing no to mention the overall performance of their school. (Thank God that universal education is here) This is where music comes in. The haphazard music program that is being implemented presently is a waste of time. Principals have to give more autonomy to the specialised music teachers at the schools. This is the way to go

   The other point that needs mentioning here is the lack of involvement of retirees in school programs. The present crop of principals thinks they know it all and refuse to involve or ask for advice from the retired principals. The current crop of principals continues to short change our children. They continue to stifle the creative potential of our kids with their tight-assed method of administration.

Nine primary schools as well as nine secondary schools  seized the opportunity to represent their institutions. The primary schools include Marchand Combined, Ave Maria Primary, Camille Henry Memorial, Gordon Walcott Memorial, St. Aloysius RC Boys Primary, Gros-Islet Primary, Odsan Combined, La Guerre Combined and Bocage Combines.
Included in afternoon’s performances were the following secondary schools: Babonneau Secondary, Sir Ira Simmons, Ciceron Secondary, Vieux Fort Technical, Vieux Fort Campus A, Corinth Secondary, George Charles Secondary, Gros Islet Secondary and Clendon Mason Secondary.

In last evening’s schools’  calypso competition ( the primary schools’ round) the standard was below average. Many of singers sang out of key which to my music mind is unacceptable at this level. Many of the keys were too flat. The RC boys took the title with a song “War” by Stingers.  At the secondary schools’ round I heard quite a few interesting performances.” Legal Eyes”  by Khendra of the babonneau secondary was fantastic, so was “Stop the violence’ by Embert of Corinth secondary. The latter walked away with the crown.

   Analysing the competition, I am sure that we have in our district persons that can give a good account of themselves at such a show. I am sure that we have musicians as well as song writer that can produce our children with lyrics. But no these principals and their lack of music knowlwdge does not see it fit to step up to the plate for our children. One day they will learn.

   Finally, one would hope that with our Rep as the Minister responsible for Creative arts and the educators in the Constituency will take advantage of this bring in the art form into the schools, have preliminaries and have their school represented at next year's Junior calypso competition. In the meantime they, the principals and music teachers should get down to work now. Support from the Rep is a must.

The pic shows Cassie Emmanuel who performed "Dame and Knight". She represented the Ciceron Secondary School..