Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

Prof Sel­wyn Ryan is call­ing for a na­tion­al de­bate on race re­la­tions.Speak­ing to re­porters at the 119th an­niver­sary of the Na­pari­ma Col­lege Founders' Day cel­e­bra­tions on Tues­day, Ryan said too much mis­in­for­ma­tion and mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion was fu­elling racial ten­sions in T&T."I think we need to have a se­ri­ous na­tion­al dis­cus­sion on race re­la­tions to get rid of all the as­sump­tions, all the mis­in­for­ma­tion and mis­rep­re­sen­ta­tion.

"I think we need to do it and I think we need to do it quick­ly and with taste and with mod­er­a­tion," Ryan said.In his fea­ture ad­dress, he al­so called on par­ents to take an ac­tive role in their chil­dren's lives.He added: "Many par­ents do not take their chil­dren's ed­u­ca­tion se­ri­ous­ly. It is im­por­tant that they do this.

He said his own par­ents fal­tered in that re­gard but be­cause of the late Prime Min­is­ter Dr Er­ic Williams he was mo­ti­vat­ed to­wards in­creas­ing his in­tel­lec­tu­al ca­pac­i­ty by at­tain­ing his PhD from Cor­nell Uni­ver­si­ty in the Unit­ed States. Ryan is a po­lit­i­cal sci­en­tist."Dr Williams lec­tured at Har­ris Prom­e­nade and he in­spired many of us," Ryan said. He al­so not­ed that over the past few years the prison pop­u­la­tion of young black men had in­creased.

"This is a chal­lenge we face and we will con­tin­ue to ex­pe­ri­ence these prob­lems if we have poor parental su­per­vi­sion," Ryan said. He said sound moral up­bring­ing and dis­ci­pline were need­ed.Mod­er­a­tor of the Pres­by­ter­ian Church, Rev Bren­da Bul­lock, urged the stu­dents to strive for ex­cel­lence.

She said: "You should ful­fil your po­ten­tial, not just by pass­ing but by ex­celling. You must be hon­est and have high moral stan­dards. I en­cour­age you to work to­day so we can have a bet­ter to­mor­row."Al­so speak­ing at the func­tion were school prin­ci­pal Dr Michael Dowlath, deputy may­or of San Fer­nan­do Sab­ri­na Mowlah-Baksh and col­lege chap­lain Keron Khellawan.