Part 4
As the Ministry of Education gears up to conduct its consultations, devious rumblings have again started to surface based on one of the agenda items–Review of the Concordat. The occasional discordant sound has been uttered by the same people for the last 15 years.
The Ministry of Education's consultations will therefore present current opportunities for these Don Quixote's to tilt at the Concordat windmill. Again and again the same envious people will present their ill-informed and misinformed views. These dangerous and discontented people have never had the interest of the nation at heart. The fundamental, critical and significant role of the various religious bodies as partners in the education system is unrivalled.
The sacrifices made by these religious bodies for more than a hundred years in some instances, more than six decades and shorter periods in a few instances, have never been broadcast in an egoistic way. We have reviewed some of the arguments to demonstrate the role of religious bodies in the education system.
The Concordat which protects the rights of the religious bodies is the greatest strength of the education system. But let's first deal with the issue of ownership of the denominational schools. In the legal matter of Kamla Jagesser and the Teaching Service Commission (CV2009), Justice Sebastian Ventour noted the following: "The Concordat and the Education Legislation (28) ......, the school system in Trinidad and Tobago is organised into two categories known as public schools and private schools.
"Public schools are further classified into those categories that are wholly owned by the government and those that are owned by the religious bodies, but are in receipt of public funds for building or extension or re-building or for the equipment and facilities provided for the school. The latter are more commonly referred to as assisted schools."
(94) of said judgment (pg 29) also states: "It had been demonstrated that the assisted schools are the property of the respective denominational bodies."
Those two excerpts from Justice Ventour's ruling clarify the ownership of schools by religious bodies and is a deterrent to those who desire to trammel such rights.
To therefore suggest a review of the Concordat which confers certain rights with respect to the operation of denominational schools is absurd. Secondly, there is a view advocated by some ignorant people that denominational schools are discriminatory. The fact is that the Constitution, Section 4(f) affords the opportunity for parents to seek entry to a school of choice for his or her child.
This fact is also amplified in (51) of Justice Ventour's ruling: "The right of the parent to choose would be meaningless if there were no alternatives from which the parent could evaluate or access before deciding the most appropriate school for the education of his or her child."
If therefore state power were to be exercised in a manner which would reduce or eliminate the alternatives then such conduct could amount to an interference with the constitutionally protected freedom enjoyed by the parent under Section 4(f) of the Constitution.
Deliberate misinformed opinion is peddled that there should be no denominational schools, because these schools are funded by taxpayers. This opinion has two major flaws: 1) Are the proponents suggesting that parents whose children attend denominational schools do not pay tax? 2) Are the proponents of this view aware that denominational schools, especially at the secondary level are significantly underfunded in comparison with government schools? The fact of the matter is based on size and scale–student population as well as landscape–denominational schools are treated unfairly.
Based on these two factors, denominational schools receive less funds than their government counterparts. Additionally, the grant which denominational bodies receive for the education curriculum deliveries, including support cost, also includes salaries for cleaners, handymen and janitors.
Furthermore the compliment of these people identified is always at a greater numerical strength in government schools compared to Board schools. While government schools receive a full complement of security, health and safety officers, the denominational schools receive a paltry sum for security service. Health and safety officers are not attached to any of the denominational schools.
The evidence is clear; the government schools are favoured significantly on this regard. If any entity is to feel aggrieved, then it must be each and every religious body.
The religious bodies are not secretive about their accounts. The Education Act empowers the Minister of Education to collect financial reports on the grants provided by the government and the areas of expenditure to such funds received by each religious board. Boards have not been hesitant to provide the Minister of Education with such information in a template.
Government schools literally receive hundreds of thousands of dollars more than their counterparts of equivalent student population and land space. The net result is that Board schools save the nation millions of dollars by creatively and involuntarily funding the deficits and gaps.
The enemies of the denominational schools and the Concordat selectively ignore these points when presenting a biased view to the public.
Next week's column will continue to demonstrate the extraordinary contributions to the education system by the religious bodies with assistance of the Concordat.