TNN 55
Hello folks…(deep voice).. This is TNN…. Mammy, mammy, ah doh want tuh go back tuh school.. (background music - Bill Trotman)…..
Jumpstation: Exit common entrance; Jack be nimble; A little aid; Hello hello.
Well, las’ week de primary school chilren sit de Common Entrance exam for de las’ time…. or so de Ministry of Education say. Dey say from nex’ year it eh go have no stress, all de chilren go be able tuh fin’ schools because dey buildin’ 5 new secondary schools, and it go have some kinda continuous assessment or somet’ing like dat…..
Notice ah kinda vague, eh? Well dat is because nobody know what de HELL goin’ on wit' de chilren nex’ year! Look in 1998 Bas jump up like ah crapaud wey yuh t’row hot water on, and say dat from 2000, Common Entrance done….. Teachers, teachers-union, parents, chilren, everybody stan’ up starin’ like ah stray dog dat goin’ an’ get lick dong….. De man eh consult wit nobody, de then (Mis)Education Minister mumbling de nex’ day… like de man had some personal vision.
Up to now I eh hear nothin’ about syllabus redesign, reorientation of de education system, how all dese extra chilren goin’ tuh fit in 5 secondary schools, how de secondary system go change since everybody obviously not equally gifted for academics (what yuh go do wit de slow ones?) or more importantly, how de syllabus an’ emphasis changin’ tuh embrace de future world situation?
Nothin’… nothin’! But Bas eh done, he say all de stress dat de chilren use tuh go t’rough, all dat done.... t’anks to he government!
Anyway dis Secondary Entrance Assessment
(SEA) scraps de science an’ social studies part of CE an’ focuses on
de 3 R’s… Ah t’ought dat it was schools in de Industrial Revolution use
tuh focus on dat.. ah would hope deducation is more dan makin’ people
literate… hmmm….. like dey really at SEA wit’ dis one..! )
Now if de Prime Minister callin’ people jackass on national television, what yuh leave for de res’ ah we…? An’ de young chilren….? As de calypsonian say.. “If de priest could play, who is we..?” But I wouldn’t call MY Prime Minister ah jackass…. not me! How ah go insult de animal so?!
Hmm…. like we have ah lot ah “jacks" dis week, boy….. anyway one Austin Jack Warner declare he intention tuh canvass for de UNC…. yeah, de football fella, nah….. He does get people tuh kick ball, an’ politicians does kick people.. so ah suppose it have similarity somewey along de line…..
Now, me eh vex wit Jacko, yuh know.. who yuh choose, yuh choose…. dat is yuh right.. but when ah hear Jack say he go rent he apartments to Tunapuna policemen at $1 ah month until dey get ah new station, an’ he go build ah market for Arouca, an’ he go set up ah TV station because de present one doh like de government…ah start tuh wonder.. ah mean, why de government have tuh get dey supporters to do dat?
Ah mean, isn’t national security an’ provision of markets (social amenities) de gov’t job? Now if t’ings real bad, we dirt poor, like Haiti, ah could understand private people helpin’ out de government… but if is one t’ing dis place have is money.. trust me..
Pssst! Jack! T’row in ah hospital as ah lagniappe, nah!
An’ why de government want ah TV station? Why all de news people against dem? But what make me see red, is when Jack say how de people against Bas .. “because he is ah Indian…!" Look , if ah had ah bullpistle, it was sure tuh get ah workout! What?! Doh insult my intelligence, man! An’ doh be judging me jus’ so!
Look, when ah talk about de money we wastin’ on all dem big projects….. imagine.. ah desalination plant in ah country dat does flood in de DRY season?! My money an’ my people future eh have nothin’ tuh do wit race…… ah mean Jack nimble tuh jump from football tuh politics, but he a little too quick tuh jump to conclusions…..
Maybe de Prime Minister did get he speeches mix up… maybe what he did mean to say was … “ Some JACK….”, but den again, maybe he was right after all…!
Well, I eh no doctor, so I eh rushin’ tuh comment… but it have ah AIDS vaccine dey want tuh run trials wit’, an’ dey pick Trinidad as one of de places dey want tuh try it out….
One setta commesse erupt… people want tuh know why dey want tuh come in de “T’ird World” tuh try de vaccine.. Why dey not as enthusiastic tuh try it in dey own country?
Well, dey say, we stan’ tuh benefit more, because we have de highest cases…True, but who stand tuh suffer more if t’ings go wrong?
Now, I hopin’ dey fin’ a cure for dis t’ing as soon as possible, eh, an’ ah t’ink all ah we should chip in, but brudder, I want tuh know if yuh stickin’ 10 people here, yuh stickin’ 10 people over dey too… ah eh too lucky wit’ dis talk about we go benefit more… since when dey so nice tuh we…? An’ dey passin’ nuclear waste t’rough we waters? An’ dey deportin’ hundreds of criminals without even informin’ de gov’t? An’ dey want tuh use Shiprider Agreement to arrest people in we waters, an’ when we ask for amendments dey say we airport eh safe for plane tuh land, so no tourists for we, an’ doh forget tryin’ tuh sink we wit’ de banana issue? Yeah, dey real care about we…! Read yuh history man…an’ doh tell meh dey change either!
Ah did forget tuh pinch alyuh dis one…de government was tuh deregulate de telecommunications industry , so it inviting odder companies e.g. AT&T, etc., tuh come in an’ provide some competition (yuh see, dey does do somet’ing good sometimes…ah eh fraid tuh admit dat…!), but Cable an’ Wireless decide dat dat eh fair, an’ how dey was promised ah monopoly until 2005 or somet’ing so.
Now like dey have dey lines cross….?! You t’ink in de US or Britain you could get ah assured monopoly for 15 or 20 years (ask Bill Gates..)? So why yuh want tuh advantage we? Because we small?
At de same time I have tuh wonder how ah government could give ah company ah monopoly in law… Yeah, yuh have ah right tuh take advantage of we! An’ is not only in Trinidad dey sign dat nonsense either, yuh know… an if yuh see de hundreds of millions of dollars profit dem rakin’ in… ah mean by now, yuh musta finish pay for yuh investment here…
Yuh know dey have ah
system with overseas companies whereby the
Trinidad “compensation” rate is more dan 10 times de average for de US
….. boy, talk eh cheap again.. ah mean have ah heart nah…! But ah suppose dat
is why dey does call dem Careless an’ Wutless…..
Dat’s all for dis week folks….. remember any questions, queries, comments, ole talk, jus’ write tuh we anchorman Cobra at ttcobra1@hotmail.com an’ we go be sure tuh answer yuh…. take care.. special hail out for Carol… ah go hail out de rest ah alyuh nex’ week.. ah have tuh run… ah gone..Peace! ......RAN, NPM beggin' you fete wit' dem... at Party Time (background music - Bally)
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