RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

A four-week mu­si­cal camp at La Ro­maine Sec­ondary School con­clud­ed yes­ter­day with stu­dents gain­ing ex­po­sure to var­i­ous in­stru­ments and mu­sic the­o­ry as a means of bol­ster­ing dis­ci­pline and ap­pre­ci­a­tion for cul­ture at one of South Trinidad’s most stig­ma­tised schools.

Un­der prin­ci­pal Ra­jesh Sir­jue, there has been a con­cert­ed ef­fort to chal­lenge that stig­ma by pro­vid­ing stu­dents, par­ents and teach­ers with mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary pro­grammes aimed at in­still­ing strong morals, val­ues and dis­ci­pline.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia, Sir­jue said the camp in­volved about 40 chil­dren be­tween the ages of five and 17.

The event was co­or­di­nat­ed by WPC Lisa Ban­field of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Po­lice Ser­vice’s Com­mu­ni­ty-Ori­ent­ed Polic­ing Sec­tion (COPS South), with sup­port from Supt David Guel­mo.

WPC Ban­field said over the last four weeks, the chil­dren learnt steel­pan, tas­sa, African drums and mu­sic the­o­ry.

They al­so par­tic­i­pat­ed in soap-mak­ing, vis­it­ed a pan fac­to­ry and took part in ses­sions in East In­di­an dance, singing and cos­me­tol­ogy.

She not­ed that the pro­gramme was de­signed to ex­pose chil­dren to sev­er­al pil­lars of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s cul­ture while en­cour­ag­ing dis­ci­pline, cre­ativ­i­ty and uni­ty.

“Cul­ture is im­por­tant, and just as sports and all the oth­er dis­ci­plines, cul­ture car­ries dis­ci­pline. It shows in­no­va­tion, it shows uni­ty, it shows pride,” she said.

Ban­field en­cour­aged par­ents to con­tin­ue ex­pos­ing their chil­dren to cul­tur­al and sport­ing ac­tiv­i­ties, say­ing some of the par­tic­i­pants had lit­tle knowl­edge of as­pects of the coun­try’s cul­ture be­fore join­ing the camp.

She said the ex­pe­ri­ence opened their eyes and en­cour­aged them to learn more.

Su­per­in­ten­dent Guel­mo told Guardian Me­dia that he was im­pressed by the trans­for­ma­tion of the chil­dren dur­ing the camp.

Gilmore said some of the par­tic­i­pants had nev­er played a mu­si­cal in­stru­ment be­fore, yet by the end of the four weeks, they were able to per­form.

He de­scribed the pro­gramme as a pos­i­tive way for chil­dren to chan­nel their en­er­gy dur­ing the school hol­i­days while learn­ing skills that could re­main with them through­out their lives.

Mean­while, Sir­jue said La Ro­maine Sec­ondary al­ready viewed mu­sic as an im­por­tant av­enue for dis­ci­pline.

“We too of­ten look at the oth­er pil­lars in terms of sports as be­ing a way for dis­ci­pline, fail­ing to re­alise that mu­sic is al­so a very strong av­enue for that,” Sir­jue said.

He not­ed that La Ro­maine Sec­ondary’s progress in mu­sic is al­ready chal­leng­ing per­cep­tions of the school.

De­spite lim­it­ed fund­ing, its steel­band placed fifth in the Sec­ondary Schools Panora­ma fi­nals this year, with Ban­field play­ing a role in as­sist­ing the school’s prepa­ra­tion.

Sir­jue said that suc­cess had strength­ened the re­la­tion­ship be­tween the school and COPS South.

He is al­so work­ing with oth­er stake­hold­ers, in­clud­ing Works Min­is­ter Jear­lean John, who has adopt­ed the school and has been of­fer­ing stu­dents en­cour­age­ment and ad­vice.

While some stu­dents come from vul­ner­a­ble fam­i­lies and the La Ro­maine com­mu­ni­ty has strug­gled with crime and so­cial chal­lenges, Sir­jue said the school should not be de­fined by its cir­cum­stances.