TT: Gi' we back we principal, we ain' makin' no joke

NOT SIR!

San Fernando Secondary Comprehensive students yesterday turned the tables on the Ministry of Education when they used an anger management lesson to vent their rage over the transfer of acting principal Gene Bacchus.

“No Bacchus, no school” the angry teenagers chanted above the calls for order by their teachers and policemen who tried to address them on the school’s public address system.

The demonstration took place during an anger management seminar held at the school as part of the ministry’s school intervention strategies programme (SIS).
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The girls wore yellow ribbons in their hair, the boys, yellow strips of cloth on their uniform, as a show of solidarity with the protest which was organised by the student council.

Renee Connell, a Form Three student and student council member, said, “He (Bacchus) came for two months and instituted so many changes.

“No other principal has gotten respect from the students as he has.”

Some other students said under Bacchus’ administration a school block was painted and toilets were repaired.

They said the acting principal also helped set up the student council, a drama club and netball, football and volleyball teams.

They said he also succeeded in reducing violence at the school.

“There has been great improvement in the school since he has been here. He is the first principal with whom you can sit and talk with,” said Samantha Battoo, a fourth form student.

A senior school official said Bacchus was only the acting principal and was to be transferred to Couva Junior Secondary School.

The new principal, Vishnu Dass, reportedly went to the Ministry of Education’s office at Farah Street, San Fernando, after hearing of the protest.

He is scheduled to report for duty at the school today.

Bacchus himself declined to comment about the matter and was escorted around the compound by four police officers, who were called out to the school.

The school supervisor and vice-principal, who were present, also refused to comment.

“We want to give the youth a voice. However, it must be in an orderly manner,” said Beverly Taitt, chairman of the school’s PTA.

“An agreeable solution must be reached by Mr Baccus, students, teachers and the Ministry of Education.”

So why are they really moving Bacchus? If he's good enough for Couva Junior Sec., why isn't he good enough for San F'do Comprehensive?

Here is part of the Express's take on the student protest.

Hundreds of pupils of the San Fernando Secondary Comprehensive School threw chairs and hurled racist remarks at teachers, who they accused of forcing the removal of principal Gene Bacchus who is to be replaced by Vishnu Dass.

The pupils said they did not want an Indian principal.

The Express may be race-mongering. From reading the reports of the protest, the objection is not to the race of the incoming principal, Vishnu Dass, but to the fact of Gene Bacchus's removal at all.

Apparently, Bacchus has connected with the students, has made changes in the school's environment and physical plant, and the students, evaluating him far more favorably than his predecessors, have decided that they don't want him to go.

That Vishnu Dass is Indian might be entirely incidental to the matter. If Vishnu Dass were Gene Bacchus, then students would have no problem with him whatsoever. However, since he is not, SFSCS students want no part of him.

Let us hope the Express is not playing race games with the whole event.