What is this at all?

16.OCT.09

Editor: The decision to transfer the Principal from Georgetown Secondary to the Technical and Vocational Division of Community College, while extending the tenure of the retired stand-in principal is disturbing and heinous.{{more}}

Why is it those who are close to the top administrators in the Ministry of Education are given extension after they have reached the age of retirement, while others who are not, gracefully exit?

The argument that they want to uplift the standard of the school or teachers were planning to strike if the Principal were to return is banal and utter rubbish, as teachers at the school knew different.

What the Ministry is saying – there is nobody from a staff of 48, who are capable of managing that school? If one were to look outside the school, there are Curtis King and Philbert John who have honed and proven their leadership qualities in other organizations, yet are still to assume the mantle of principalship in the education system.

The government braggadocio talk about the number of Vincentians trained or being trained, yet still it appears that a selected few have exceptional skills that cannot be easily replaced in the Ministry.

Other troubling issues can be raised from such odious actions. The ease at which people can be assigned to the Community College from the education system leaves one to question whether the Community College is an autonomous institution governed by a board, or such is simply a farce?

The very employment of the Director, a Colonarie native, without due process and transparency, tells one where the centre of power still lies.

When any conscious Vincentian sees and knows what is going on, one only has to remember the Man Age’s calypso and ask: “What is this at all?”

Ian Boggle