Kamla Congratulates SEA Students: Urges Greater Focus on Education

I wish to extend congratulations and best wishes to all the children who wrote the 2016 Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) and are now beginning preparations for starting their secondary education.

Photos Courtesy-103FM Website

I wish, in particular, to congratulate Caitlyn Brooker of the TML School in San Fernando, for her outstanding achievement in placing first in this year’s SEA. I also congratulate her parents, her teachers and everyone else who helped and inspired Caitlyn to achieve success in this part of her personal development.

Education is a liberating tool that allows us to think intensively and critically. It is, as Nelson Mandela once said, a powerful weapon with which we can change the world. I have no doubt that our children who now move forward to begin their secondary education will help create a better Trinidad and Tobago and a better world.

My focus in public life has been to create educational opportunities for every child in our country and I am proud to have had the opportunity, first as a minister of education and later as prime minister, to give education the priority it deserved.

The success our children are celebrating today is a tribute to our teachers and our administrators as much as it is to the children themselves and the supportive environment of their homes and communities.

Photos Courtesy-103FM Website

Each child who is sharing the joy of success today will have a vital role to play in tomorrow’s society and it is the responsibility of all of us to help keep all the children focused on continuous learning.

We must also learn that we cannot judge everyone with the same static and common set of values because if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree you will find failure.

Education is multifaceted; not everyone will be a doctor, a lawyer or a leader. However each will be an integral part of the whole like the drops of water that make up the mighty oceans. A mature society appreciates the value that each individual brings.

In today’s technology-driven world where time is measured in milliseconds; information travels instantaneously and entire libraries are at our fingertips, we must be willing to adapt and embrace change in how we educate tomorrow’s generation. We must create different and innovative approaches to education, and understand that an investment in education is the best long-term investment any nation can make.

I wish all the children God’s blessings and guidance as they embark on the new leg of their continuing journey of learning.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, MP
Leader of the Opposition

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