THE EDITOR:
AT a CARICOM meeting of Ministers of Education in 1975, it was resolved that a Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) curriculum would be introduced to regional schools.

Almost three decades later, in 2003, Advocates for Youth Sexual Health and Rights (AYSHR) distributed brochures on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and safe sex to secondary students in Port of Spain.

Their strategy shone a light into the vacuum with respect to sex education in our schools. Minister of Education, Hazel Manning, assured then that that September sex education would be introduced to all high schools via a revamped HFLE curriculum.

In September 2003, however, abstinence-only clubs were served up instead. The abstinence programme provides support only for young people who pledge to save sex for marriage.

It is the ideological opposite of the non-directive, comprehensive curriculum for which ASPIRE and other advocates have lobbied.

Also, virginity pledges have been shown to be ineffective in protecting its partici-pants from STIs in the long term.

Over the past three years, though, the abstinence programme has repeatedly been heralded by the Ministry of Education as the gem of its response to high rates of HIV infection among young people.

At a special meeting of regional education ministers last month, it was resolved that there should be a regional AIDS policy for schools.

That meeting, which included representatives from UNESCO, the World Bank and the ILO, must have been rich in reality check value.

Our Education Minister emerged from the two-day conference realising that her ministry would “have to decide how to deal with” sexually active students.

In a June 16 address Manning said that sex education and the issue of condoms were “on the agenda for further discussion”.

Now consider these statistics from the Family Planning Association (FPA). Quarter of young Trinidadians have had intercourse by age 12.

Fourteen is the average age of first-timers.

Seventy-five per cent have had sex by the time they celebrate their sweet 16.

We have 4,000 births by teenage mothers every year and who knows how many pregnancies.

The Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) links those numbers with an HIV infection rate that doubled every three years during the last decade.

We welcome the Ministry’s acknowledgement that the reality of youth sexual activity in the age of HIV requires an approach that addresses the needs, concerns and psyches of all students, especially those at risk.

The re-worked sex education policy should not exile survivors of child sexual abuse, those who are coerced into having sex and those who choose to do so, as the abstinence-only approach has done.

Rather, it should provide factual information on abstinence, fidelity and condom-use to all classes of young people.

We encourage the Ministry and stakeholders -- young people, parents, educators and entities working in the area of sexual and reproductive health -- to make age-appropriate, reality-based sex education available to all our children.

This has become a matter for urgent action, not more leisurely contemplation.

It has taken the State 30 years to even raise this topic.

We hope it does not take another 30 to actually implement it.

THE EDITOR:
AFTER months of deep thinking and attempting to understand the way things appear to be falling apart in our country, I have come to the realisation that to prevent our collapse would be to attempt to fly in the face of destiny!

For a long time, I have looked on at Basdeo Panday, growing more and more angry every time I heard, saw or thought about him.

But now, having arrived at what I feel is an understanding of Panday’s purpose, I no longer despise him.

In fact, I pity him because he has been burdened with one of the most unfortunate destinies I have ever known -- to lead his “people” to the peak of a mountain and then become the one to push them all off towards a dark, tragic end!

Panday really represents the third generation of Indo-Trinidadian leaders; the first two being Bhadase Sagan Maraj and Rudranath Capildeo.

In the case of Bhadase, the legacy he left has been fraught with misunderstanding and today, the majority in our nation are loathe to accept his contributions to building our society.

Capildeo is now mostly remembered as an extremely paranoid academic who could never have become a Prime Minister.

Yet, he served his purpose as the Leader of the Opposition in continuing the work started by Bhadase.

Then came Panday, who in the scheme of things should have completed the arrival of East Indians by his ascension to Whitehall.

But, enslaved by his rather unfortunate destiny, Panday has always been more of a destroyer than a builder.

What’s more is that his unfortunate destiny has led him to become the man in our history who not only completed our arrival, but also took us back to the place we started, politically, socially, mentally and morally.

From Bhadase to Basdeo, our lot as Indo-Trinidadians grew steadily.

Now Bas, a destroyer by nature, will be the man to single-handedly deconstruct the arrival, citizenship and place in the society of the East Indian.

Panday, now that you have fulfilled your calling, please go in peace and with God.

If, because of you, the East Indian community has to start from scratch all over again, then that is what we will do.

Hopefully this time, we will be led mentally, not emotionally.

THE EDITOR:
IN late 2001/early 2002, a patient was killed in his hospital bed, whilst a nurse was assaulted and thrown unto a bed.

As a result, a national security committee was formed. I happened to be a member of this committee, a surprising decision to many -- for I always vouched that I will never sit on any committee.

If this national committee was able to hold five meetings, we were lucky and I attended every single meeting.

I cannot say the same for the SWRHA representatives, for each meeting had a different representative. At these meetings, I was the only person to present any plans and proposals.

A traffic plan was immediately discarded because it eliminated the private entrance to the “Sacred Cows on the hill”, as a former Chairman described them. This private entrance was the main source of pilferage.

Secured doorways were frowned upon as “Fire Service does not allow enclosed fire exits”.

I have always seen closed doors with a fire exit sign. Some even said that the hospital is not a jail.

When questions were asked about further meetings, the usual answer, you will be contacted.

After a few queries, it died a natural death.

Two decisions were made by a local committee.

The first was to employ three guards to pace and paint the floors of the hospital, creating a patrol every 15 minutes.

This I objected to as window dressing and a waste of funds.

I asked that my personal objection be written into the minutes.

Two months later, it was stopped as it was expensive and reaping no rewards.

The second decision was a hare-brain scheme to give each floor a colour and to issue colour coded passes.

This was thoughtfully presented by a man in waste-coat and eventually cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Again I objected.

It was a dismal flop.

Today, over four years later, health workers are being assaulted. Even members of the Police Service have joined the fray.

And, the SWRHA response was silence.

After at least four attacks on doctors within recent times, MPATT and their members responded and within hours, SWRHA were awoken from their slumber.

The first promise was that of increased security guards, déjà vu!

The end result of this must be a proper health and safety plan.

* Security must be provided for the physical assets as well as the more important human assets.

* The security guard who stood by and watched the assault must be immediately removed from any SWRHA compound.

* A proper traffic management plan.

* Controlled access points to all buildings

* Rapid communication to nearby police stations as well as assurance of a rapid response. (reference to Debbie Jacob of the Trinidad Guardian).

* Electronic security systems such as CCTV, swipe card access devices, etc.

* Perimeter lighting.

* Police patrols and improved street lighting along the Lady Hailes Avenue, especially at nights.

One hopes that the SWRHA “Sacred Cows” will one day realise that they are not the only one who need adequate security.

But seriously, we the health workers, the mortals, the engine room of the health service need safety, security and reassurance just as those “on the hill”.