Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday dismissed claims that plans were afoot to declare a state of emergency in T&T as the September 7 general election gets closer.
Persad-Bissessar made the comment in response to questions from reporters after the formal opening of the $19 million Febeau Government Primary School, San Juan, yesterday.
Inspector Michael Seales spoke about a possible state of emergency being declared during a television interview yesterday morning. He was suspended yesterday for the comments.
“There is no state of emergency,” was all she said as she left the venue.
Persad-Bissessar was asked earlier to respond to allegations by her former national security minister Jack Warner about events that happened while she was on an official visit to China.
She said she was not prepared to make any further comments on matters involving Warner. She said the matter was in the hands of her attorneys.
Persad-Bissessar was wooed by a pupil of the school, Oshun Howell, who sang Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud at the ceremony.
Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh said the SEA results could be released as early as Wednesday. He said that following the opening of a new early childhood centre in Barataria yesterday.
He said the chief education officer told him there were “a number of queries that arose but if that is sorted out by CXC, we will have the results possibly on Wednesday or Thursday for the latest.”
Gopeesingh also explained the reasons for the later start of the new school term in September. The ministry said earlier that the new term will commence on September 8, one day after the general election.
He said the length of the September term was originally set to last 15 weeks but “a number of people felt it is going to be a burnout for the students to have 15 weeks.”
He said consequently the chief education officer attempted to reduce the number of weeks in that term and it was decided with the support of TTUTA that the term will run for 14 weeks. Additionally, Gopeesingh said it was felt that because of the Independence Day holiday on August 31 and the need for the EBC to prepare the schools for the election this would have resulted in two school days being lost for the week.
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Howell said he wanted to sing the song for a long while but he had no one to sing it to until yesterday. He said when the Prime Minister arrived at the school he asked her if he could sing it solo for her and she agreed. Howell later said with a smile that the PM “called me Mr Solo.” He said he was amazed by the appreciation he received from the PM and the audience yesterday.
“When she got up, held my hands and sang with me I felt like wow! I will always remember this moment,” he added.
He said all citizens should accept that education was the key to success.