When Debe High School first opened its doors 25 years ago in the rolling cane­fields of Debe, along the new­ly paved M2 Ring Road built un­der for­mer Prime Min­is­ter Bas­deo Pan­day, it marked the be­gin­ning of a qui­et but pow­er­ful ed­u­ca­tion­al rev­o­lu­tion.

For the first time, chil­dren of all abil­i­ties—in­clud­ing slow learn­ers and those pre­vi­ous­ly left be­hind by the Com­mon En­trance sys­tem—were giv­en a place in a sec­ondary school. This was a vi­sion cham­pi­oned by then ed­u­ca­tion min­is­ter, now Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, who be­lieved that no child should be de­nied an ed­u­ca­tion and worked to cre­ate a space for every stu­dent.

Among that pi­o­neer­ing group of stu­dents was Su­ruj Mi­tra Sookraj, who re­mem­bers walk­ing in­to a school that felt less like an in­sti­tu­tion and more like a home. “It was a fam­i­ly,” Sookraj re­called. “The teach­ers weren’t just teach­ers—they were par­ents. They pro­tect­ed us, they guid­ed us, and they made sure we be­lieved in our­selves, es­pe­cial­ly Mrs (In­di­ra) Boodram, who was a moth­er fig­ure to me.”

He said Boodram, who lat­er be­came Dean of Dis­ci­pline, be­came a role mod­el for many stu­dents. Un­der the school’s first prin­ci­pal, Ju­dith Per­reira, Debe High built a cul­ture of love and pro­tec­tion. The name was lat­er changed to Debe Sec­ondary School. He not­ed that 18 years ago, when cur­rent prin­ci­pal Romeo Gun­ness took the helm, he ex­pand­ed that lega­cy, en­sur­ing that no child in his charge would be de­fined by cir­cum­stance.

Pres­i­dent of the Debe Sec­ondary School Par­ent Coun­cil, Saman­tha Per­sad-Har­racks­ingh, sees this every day. “Mr Gun­ness makes it his busi­ness to know every child’s back­ground,” she said. “If a fam­i­ly is strug­gling, ham­pers ar­rive. If a child needs uni­forms, books, or sta­tionery, the school pro­vides them. And if a stu­dent is fac­ing trau­ma or in­sta­bil­i­ty, he steps in and se­cures psy­cho-so­cial sup­port. That is lead­er­ship with heart.”

Par­ent Don­na Chase said Gun­ness was a “no-non­sense” prin­ci­pal who had high ex­pec­ta­tions for both staff and stu­dents. “His love and com­pas­sion for stu­dents make him well re­spect­ed, and he works close­ly with the Par­ents’ Coun­cil to ac­com­plish goals,” she said.

An­oth­er par­ent, Niala Khan, said she was im­pressed that spe­cial needs stu­dents were in­clud­ed in the school pop­u­la­tion. “From pro­duc­ing schol­ar­ship win­ners to cre­at­ing an in­clu­sive en­vi­ron­ment where stu­dents of all abil­i­ties can thrive, the school has con­sis­tent­ly shown what ded­i­ca­tion and vi­sion can achieve. Their sup­port for spe­cial needs stu­dents—many of whom have ex­celled be­yond mea­sure—is noth­ing short of in­spir­ing,” she said.

Last week, the school cel­e­brat­ed its 25th an­niver­sary by plant­i­ng three time cap­sules filled with pho­tos, let­ters, and doc­u­ments re­flect­ing its vi­brant his­to­ry. Among the guests was Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Michael Dowlath, who praised Debe Sec­ondary as a mod­el of what pub­lic ed­u­ca­tion should be.

“Par­ents in this re­gion con­sid­er Debe their first choice,” Dowlath said. “This school has pro­duced ex­cel­lence not just in aca­d­e­mics, but al­so in sports, char­ac­ter, and com­mu­ni­ty spir­it. What Mr Gun­ness and his staff have built here is some­thing Trinidad and To­ba­go can be proud of.”

He said the school was full of teach­ers “who refuse to give up on stu­dents and who en­cour­age their pupils nev­er to give up on them­selves.”

Al­so present was for­mer prin­ci­pal Joe Sir­jue, who did not hes­i­tate to com­mend Gun­ness’ lead­er­ship. “These stu­dents are for­tu­nate,” Sir­jue said. “Their prin­ci­pal, Dr Romeo Gun­ness, is a na­tion­al awardee, a re­cip­i­ent of the Hum­ming­bird Sil­ver Medal for Ed­u­ca­tion. His work has trans­formed this school in­to one of the top in­sti­tu­tions in South Trinidad.”

Among the staff is for­mer Sen­ate vice pres­i­dent Lyn­di­ra Ou­dit, whose calm ded­i­ca­tion has made her a role mod­el for many stu­dents. Har­racks­ingh said teacher Mar­lon Seecha­ran is al­ways seek­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents, and un­der his tute­lage, five stu­dents won par­tial schol­ar­ships in the Arthur Lok Jack GSB Sec­ondary School Busi­ness Sim­u­la­tion in 2023.

Sir­jue said over the past 25 years, Debe Sec­ondary has grown from a rur­al school sur­round­ed by cane and mar­ket stalls in­to a thriv­ing in­sti­tu­tion in one of the fastest-grow­ing towns in South Trinidad. Yet it has pre­served its roots. Agri­cul­tur­al Sci­ence re­mains a proud part of the cur­ricu­lum, and stu­dents still learn the val­ues of work, land, com­mu­ni­ty, and tra­di­tion.

Dai­ly as­sem­blies re­flect this ground­ing. Gun­ness be­gins each morn­ing teach­ing stu­dents life val­ues—hu­mil­i­ty, co­op­er­a­tion, re­silience, and faith. “He al­ways tells us to put God first,” one stu­dent said. Spir­i­tu­al­i­ty, he be­lieves, builds self-dis­ci­pline, and every week, stu­dents at­tend re­li­gious in­struc­tion class­es led by lead­ers of their re­spec­tive faiths.

Gun­ness said aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly, the school has much to cel­e­brate. It has earned a rep­u­ta­tion as one of the South’s strongest per­form­ers, boast­ing an im­pres­sive 85 per cent CSEC pass rate and even a co­hort with a 100 per cent CAPE pass rate. In 2025, 17-year-old Alexan­der Sookraj achieved nine CSEC Grade Ones, de­scrib­ing his jour­ney as “a bal­ance of hard work and men­tal well-be­ing.”

The school has pro­duced na­tion­al schol­ar­ship win­ners, in­clud­ing En­vi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence schol­ar Shi­va Bal­li­ram.

But Gun­ness said its achieve­ments ex­tend far be­yond the class­room. Debe Sec­ondary’s girls’ foot­ball team is one of the most suc­cess­ful in na­tion­al his­to­ry, win­ning mul­ti­ple South Zone ti­tles, In­ter­Col cham­pi­onships, and na­tion­al league tro­phies. Sev­er­al play­ers—in­clud­ing Lin­fah Jones and Kay­la Tay­lor—have rep­re­sent­ed Trinidad and To­ba­go in­ter­na­tion­al­ly. The school al­so made its mark in vol­ley­ball, dra­ma, and a wide range of co-cur­ric­u­lar ac­tiv­i­ties that con­tin­ue to de­vel­op well-round­ed stu­dents.

Even the set­ting of the school is steeped in his­to­ry. As the late his­to­ri­an Louis Homer once re­count­ed, the Debe dis­trict was shaped by the old rail­way lines that ran across the land in front of the school. Ven­dors sold fresh pro­duce along the tracks, and the fa­mous Debe dou­bles cul­ture grew from those bustling stops. Ed­u­ca­tion, com­mu­ni­ty, and liveli­hood have al­ways in­ter­sect­ed here.

Twen­ty-five years af­ter its found­ing, Dowlath said Debe Sec­ondary re­mains true to its pur­pose: nur­tur­ing every child who walks through its gates. Its suc­cess is not just mea­sured in schol­ar­ships, tro­phies, or rank­ings, but in com­pas­sion, re­silience, and love.

As the time cap­sules were sealed, Prin­ci­pal Gun­ness summed up the school’s jour­ney in sim­ple words: “Our mis­sion has al­ways been to lift every child. That will nev­er change.”