Still Waiting for an Apology
"Unjustified
Attack on Pan In The Classroom Unit"
Trinidad - Like Mr. Joseph, it is not my
desire to engage in banter over these issues,
but when misinformation is being peddled, I must
clear the air. Again, I must lament that, given
the excellent personal relationships with
members of Pan Trinbago's Central Executive (as
Mr. Joseph acknowledges in his regard), a simple
phone call could have cleared up the
misconceptions and misunderstandings.
It is most unfortunate that, as the Public
Relations Officer of Pan Trinbago, Mr. Joseph
cannot discern between the Pan In Schools
Coordinating Council (a private body comprising
teachers that seeks the interests of schools as
related to the steelpan) and the Pan In The
Classroom Unit (a Unit of the Curriculum
Development Division of the Ministry of
Education). I trust that this is his personal
confusion and not that of the Central Executive
of Pan Trinbago.
It is also unfortunate that Mr. Joseph issues
these releases without being in possession of
all the facts. Firstly, I was not in attendance
at the meeting to which he refers which was held
on Monday, January 15th, 2007 (I assumed duty as
Project Coordinator that afternoon), but was
present at a subsequent meeting with the
Minister of Education, the Deputy Permanent
Secretary, as well as the President and
Secretary of Pan Trinbago. More of that anon. In
any event, the "beef" that Mr. Joseph is
apparently articulating is that I treated with a
Youth Officer of Pan Trinbago rather than the
Secretary of the Organisation. If this is what
has caused the Central Executive's
consternation, I am man enough to apologise for
the unintended slight. These, however are the
facts:
-
At the meeting to which mr. Joseph refers,
the Ministry of Education was informed that the
Youth Officers of Pan Trinbago would be their
representatives on the Joint Committee planning
for the National Junior Panorama 2007;
-
A very cordial meeting of the Joint
Committee was held the following day (Tuesday,
January 16th), where Pan Trinbago was
represented by its Youth Officers. At that
meeting, I indicated that I intended to keep the
committee together for the planning of the
National Junior Steelband Music Festival 2007
and the National Junior Panorama 2008. The next
meeting was set for Tuesday, January 23rd.;
-
Pan Trinbago's representatives did not show
up for the meeting scheduled for Tuesday 23rd,
during the course of that meeting, the Unit
began receiving information that Pan Trinbago
had begun to contact schools, informing them
that they would be hosting their own Junior
Panorama and that the ministry of Education
might host its own (if that's not
disrespect to the Ministry of Education, I don't
know what is). I immediately contacted Pan
Trinbago and spoke with the Secretary of the
Central Executive, who confirmed that this was
the case and informed me that the decision was
taken because the Executive was disturbed by the
events of Monday 15th.;
-
I reported the situation to my superior
officers and the Minister of Education invited
the President of Pan Trinbago to a meeting on
Wednesday, January 24th to discuss the issues. A
decision was taken to proceed with the planning
and the National Junior Panorama 2007 ran
smoothly;
-
At the subsequent planning meetings (for the
Junior Panorama) and review meetings (attended
by a Youth Officer from Pan Trinbago), I
reiterated my intention to keep the committee
together to plan for the next two events (Junior
Steelband Festival 2007 and Junior Panorama
2008).
At all times, my modus operandi has
been predicated on the assumption that
representatives of the partner organisations would
have briefed their respective organisations on the
discussions and decisions taken. I did not,
therefore, at any time communicate with the
Secretaries of the respective organisations. If Pan
Trinbago is offended by this, then mea culpa.
Nonetheless, it was incumbent on Pan Trinbago's
representative to keep that body apprised and, as
I pointed out in my earlier response to Mr.
Joseph, such failure points to internal weaknesses
in Pan Trinbago and those weaknesses should not be
used to justify attacking officials of the
Ministry of Education. I should also mention that,
immediately upon seeing the previous release, I
wrote to the President of Pan Trinbago (on July
12th 2007), naming the Youth Officer who
represented Pan Trinbago in planning for the
National Junior Steelband Music Festival and
asking him to indicate to me if that person was
not authorized to represent the organisation and,
if not, indicate who was. i am yet to receive a
response.
Speaking of the internal weaknesses in Pan
Trinbago's reporting structures, by Mr. Joseph's
acknowledgement that there was discourse with Pan
Trinbago's Youth Officer, he has nullified his
assertion in his previous release that the "organisation
never collaborated with the Ministry of Education
or any of its agents to host a Junior Steel Pan
Festival anytime in 2007." What he should instead
have indicated was that the Central Executive of
Pan Trinbago was unaware of any collaboration with
the Ministry of Education. Further, Mr. Joseph
proceeded to use that false premise to attack
"officials of the Ministry of Education." Since he
claims not to see how that translates into a
personal attack, let me connect the dots for him:
-
Every Official in the Ministry of Education
knows that the Pan In The Classroom Unit is the
body within the Ministry of Education charged
with the responsibility for the organisation of
the National Junior Steelband Music Festival;
-
Every School Teacher involved with a school
steelband knows that the Pan In The Classroom
Unit is the body within the Ministry of
Education charged with the responsibility for
the organisation of the National Junior
Steelband Music Festival;
-
Every Official with a Junior Steelband knows
that the Pan In The Classroom Unit is the body
within the Ministry of Education charged with
the responsibility for the organisation of the
National Junior Steelband Music Festival;
therefore
-
An attack on "officials of the Ministry of
Education" who are organising the National
Junior Steelband Music Festival is an attack on
officials of the Pan In The Classroom Unit;
-
I head the Pan In The Classroom Unit,
therefore an attack on that Unit for "choosing
to undermine and disrespect Pan Trinbago and its
constitution, thereby bringing the Ministry into
disrepute" (especially when that attack is based
on false information) is an attack on me and the
manner in which I lead the Unit.
As I close, let me point out that I have
apologised twice in this response for any
unintended offense taken by the Central Executive
of Pan Trinbago. I still await Pan Trinbago's
apology for the unwarranted an unjustified attack
on the Pan In The Classroom Unit.
Victor N. Prescod, Project Coordinator, Pan In
The Classroom Unit, Curriculum Development
Division, Ministry of Education |
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