Rad­hi­ca De Sil­va

Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Michael Dowlath has called on schools na­tion­wide to fol­low the ex­am­ple set by San Fer­nan­do TML Pri­ma­ry School, which he praised for main­tain­ing a record of ze­ro in­dis­ci­pline.

Speak­ing at the school’s grad­u­a­tion cer­e­mo­ny at Achie­vors Ban­quet Hall in Dun­can Vil­lage on Thurs­day, Dr Dowlath said the school’s cul­ture of dis­ci­pline and val­ues-based ed­u­ca­tion should be shared across all dis­tricts. “Your prin­ci­pal spoke in her re­port about there be­ing no in­dis­ci­pline. At a na­tion­al lev­el, we are fac­ing chal­lenges with stu­dent be­hav­iour. The lessons learned from TML Pri­ma­ry should be shared, not just in Vic­to­ria Ed­u­ca­tion Dis­trict, but in all of our schools in Trinidad and To­ba­go,” he said.

Dr Dowlath de­scribed the stu­dents as re­spect­ful and cour­te­ous, com­mend­ing the school’s guid­ing phi­los­o­phy of “good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.” He added, “All of the stu­dents told me thank you when they came up here to col­lect their cer­tifi­cates. That is a hall­mark that we’ve lost in many places — look­ing out and car­ing for each oth­er.”

He ac­knowl­edged the role of par­ents, telling them, “You were the first teach­ers. This na­tion has a deep grat­i­tude to our par­ents.” He al­so reaf­firmed the gov­ern­ment’s com­mit­ment to im­prov­ing ac­cess, eq­ui­ty, and rel­e­vance in ed­u­ca­tion, not­ing plans to dis­trib­ute lap­tops na­tion­wide in 2025 and ex­pand stu­dent sup­port ser­vices such as psy­cho­log­i­cal care and men­tor­ship.

Dr Dowlath en­cour­aged the grad­u­ates to stay ground­ed and con­fi­dent. “Be­lieve in your­self and do good. Don’t let any­one put you down. Be proud of your roots, your faith, and your val­ues. These are your strengths,” he said.

School prin­ci­pal Wahi­da Mo­hammed-Nar­ine cred­it­ed the school’s dis­ci­plined en­vi­ron­ment to re­spect, struc­ture, and Is­lam­ic val­ues. “There is no in­dis­ci­pline at TML,” she said. “Our stu­dents are guid­ed by re­spect, struc­ture, and the val­ues of Is­lam — cre­at­ing a calm and em­pow­er­ing en­vi­ron­ment. Dis­ci­pline is wo­ven in­to the fab­ric of our cul­ture.”

She al­so point­ed to the school’s con­sis­tent aca­d­e­m­ic re­sults, co-cur­ric­u­lar achieve­ments, and digi­ti­sa­tion ef­forts, in­clud­ing at­ten­dance track­ing and holis­tic stu­dent de­vel­op­ment. “We are rais­ing not just smart stu­dents, but right­eous lead­ers,” she added.

Vale­dic­to­ri­ans Raeid Mu­radali and Suriya Nanan re­flect­ed on their sev­en-year jour­ney at the school. “This is our time to step in­to the world, to shape it, to chal­lenge it, and to change it,” said Nanan. Mu­radali quot­ed Surah Al-Asr, re­mind­ing peers of the val­ue of time, be­lief, and pa­tience. “We are part of a lega­cy built on ser­vice, ex­cel­lence, and sac­ri­fice,” Nanan said. “Our school cli­mate helped us be­come the best ver­sion of our­selves.”

The two thanked their par­ents, teach­ers, and sup­port staff. “You are the gi­ants whose shoul­ders we have stood up­on,” said Mu­radali.

Stu­dents re­ceived awards and medals, and gave spe­cial thanks to Stan­dard Five teach­ers Hameed Shah and Ra­bia Mo­hammed. Among those at­tend­ing the cer­e­mo­ny were Dr Roy­don Ram­per­sad, TML School Man­ag­er Ju­madeen Mo­hammed, Trinidad Mus­lim League Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Shawn Ami­rali, and PTA Pres­i­dent Ra­jin­dra Lutch­mans­ingh.