January 19, 2021
Last Thursday, in his response to a letter written by 23 Afro-Trinbagonians about the placement of Black students in our secondary schools, Kamal Persad, coordinator of the Indian Review Committee, responded: It is clear the under-performance of Afro-children in the education system is still at the top of the black agenda. Accordingly, these 23 persons of African descent adopted an unmistakable black race position (
Express, January 14).
It is wise to contrast Persad s position with a statement of Professor Brian Copeland, Vice-Chancellor of The University of the West Indies, at its 2020 graduation: As graduates of The UWI, you are beneficiaries of a public spending that covered some 80 per cent of what it costs to educate you .[You must] use your experience not just to develop yourself in your chosen careers but, even as you do so, that you do all you can to continue the fight of forming a society that better addresses the problems we face today .