Lights out at Petrotrin yes­ter­day - and a new be­gin­ning for re­struc­tured com­pa­nies start­ing work on Mon­day.
That was the pic­ture as the life of the em­bat­tled state com­pa­ny flick­ered out on Gov­ern­ment's planned dead­line yes­ter­day, with re­struc­tured en­er­gy geared to kick off on Mon­day when 42 em­ploy­ees (so far) at its new com­pa­nies be­gin work.
En­er­gy Min­is­ter Franklin con­firmed the num­ber in the new com­pa­nies as he replied in Par­lia­ment to Op­po­si­tion queries on the clo­sure of Petrotrin op­er­a­tions and what would take place ahead.
Yes­ter­day's clo­sure of Petrotrin op­er­a­tions, mak­ing way for the Trinidad Pe­tro­le­um Hold­ing Com­pa­ny and its three sub­sidiaries, capped off Gov­ern­ment's "whirl­wind" three-month re­struc­tur­ing thrust an­nounced in Au­gust. The plan, which in­volved job cuts of all 3,500 per­ma­nent work­ers and ap­prox­i­mate­ly 1,400 tem­po­rary/ca­su­al work­ers, was fought all the way by the Oil­fields Work­ers' Trade Union.
Speak­ing to re­porters be­fore yes­ter­day's sit­ting, how­ev­er, Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar said: "To­day will go down as a very dark day as the Petrotrin (cat­crack­er) flare and oth­er light­ing sys­tems have all gone out and with that light, thou­sands of work­ers are job­less and their fam­i­lies are fac­ing Christ­mas with lit­tle in their pock­ets."
Ac­cus­ing Gov­ern­ment of pres­sur­ing the Op­po­si­tion on the In­come Tax Amend­ment Bill to dis­tract from yes­ter­day's clo­sure of Petrotrin op­er­a­tions, Per­sad-Bisses­sar added: "The rea­son for this big 'dra­ma' on the bill is be­cause they've shut down Petrotrin to­day.
"I trav­el the Pointe-a-Pierre route very of­ten, the re­fin­ery flame was a land­mark, the re­fin­ery built in 1917 was there for 101 years. It was the econ­o­my's main­stay. So the Prime Min­is­ter knows the eco­nom­ic cat­a­stro­phe fac­ing us isn't this bill, it's be­cause Petrotrin's clo­sure will have far-reach­ing reper­cus­sions on T&T."
In Par­lia­ment, En­er­gy Min­is­ter Khan in Par­lia­ment, said, "As we speak, all (Petrotrin) plants and pro­cess­ing plants have been safe­ly shut down in ac­cor­dance with en­vi­ron­men­tal prac­tices. The re­fin­ery has been closed and steam plants are down.
"All hy­dro­car­bons have been re­moved and the en­tire plant has been placed un­der a ni­tro­gen at­mos­phere which is an in­ert at­mos­phere to save cor­ro­sion, fires and ig­ni­tions - and we're now go­ing out for a Re­quest For Pro­pos­als (RFP) for some­body to run the re­fin­ery."
Khan said the shut­ting down process­es are rou­tine op­er­a­tions that didn't re­quire any Cer­tifi­cate of En­vi­ron­men­tal Clear­ance, but not­ed that all ac­tiv­i­ties were un­der­tak­en in con­sul­ta­tion and un­der su­per­vi­sion of the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Agency.
Since there are no work­ers at the re­fin­ery now, he said a third-par­ty ser­vice con­tract has been award­ed to Damus Ltd (via pub­lic ten­der) to have staff mon­i­tor­ing the re­fin­ery, pro­vid­ing su­per­vi­sion and do­ing main­te­nance work.
"That's on as we speak," Khan added.
He didn't give the price of the Damus con­tract.
Go­ing for­ward from Mon­day, staff at the Her­itage Pe­tro­le­um com­pa­ny at San­ta Flo­ra and Point Fortin and Paria Fu­el Trad­ing Com­pa­ny at Pointe-a-Pierre will be on the job, Petrotrin ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cials told the T&T Guardian yes­ter­day. They said Her­itage CEO Mike Wi­ley has been "on the ground" since Au­gust.
Khan in Par­lia­ment said, "As of to­day we've hired 39 se­nior and mid­dle man­age­ment man­agers. Of this, 16 are for­mer Petrotrin em­ploy­ees and 23 oth­ers (didn't work) at Petrotrin.
"At Paria Fu­el Trad­ing com­pa­ny, we've em­ployed three se­nior man­agers. Two are for­mer Petrotrin em­ploy­ees and one is a non-em­ploy­ee of Petrotrin."
Khan said no­body has been hired for the Guaracara Re­fin­ing Com­pa­ny Ltd, as that com­pa­ny will be the cus­to­di­an for re­fin­ery as­sets.
"There'll be very lit­tle em­ploy­ment there as there'll just be a cus­to­di­an and that em­ploy­ment will take place very short­ly," he said.
Khan said in­di­vid­ual state­ments were is­sued to all em­ploy­ees pri­or to clo­sure. He couldn't say if they were au­dit­ed, but as­sured the plan is in ef­fect and re­tirees are "all re­ceiv­ing their ben­e­fits."
Source:  Trinidad Guardian, Dec 1, 2018

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley says the Min­istry of En­er­gy and En­er­gy In­dus­tries Franklin Khan is on the hunt for 50 en­gi­neer­ing grad­u­ates to fill spe­cial­ist roles with­in the min­istry.
Row­ley made the an­nounce­ment as he de­liv­ered the fea­ture ad­dress at the In­sti­tute of Elec­tri­cal and Elec­tron­ics En­gi­neers' (IEEE) Festschrift Con­fer­ence at the Hy­att Re­gency on Mon­day evening.
Speak­ing to the crowd of en­gi­neer­ing prac­ti­tion­ers and revered spe­cial­ists, Row­ley said tax­pay­ers had in­vest­ed a lot of mon­ey in the younger gen­er­a­tion, but de­spite many of them at­tain­ing their qual­i­fi­ca­tions they are lost with­in the sys­tem and many are now em­ployed.
“We have a lot of en­gi­neers in this coun­try who you (tax­pay­ers) paid for, in a va­ri­ety of uni­ver­si­ties, who are left un­der the floor and left to with­er some­where,” the PM said.
“I have in­struct­ed the Min­is­ter (of En­er­gy)…us­ing the skills of a for­mer per­ma­nent sec­re­tary, who’s vol­un­teer­ing, to go look in the sys­tem and see where we have aban­doned these peo­ple. “Some of them with the best train­ing com­ing from the best uni­ver­si­ties in the world and wind up aban­doned, ig­nored or frus­trat­ed some­where in Trinidad and To­ba­go or worse; would have been dri­ven out of Trinidad and To­ba­go as a re­sult of lack of ap­pre­ci­a­tion.”
He said Khan was in­struct­ed to give these new re­cruits spe­cial­ist po­si­tions so that they may de­vel­op the nec­es­sary skills to take the coun­try for­ward.
The PM said he hopes this ven­ture will be able to un­earth the coun­try's next Pro­fes­sor Ken­neth (Ken) Julien, whom he de­scribed as a key play­er re­spon­si­ble for de­vel­op­ing Trinidad and To­ba­go to where it has reached to­day.
Julien was al­so ho­n­oured at the event.
Row­ley al­so said he will be at­tend­ing a two-day meet­ing of the Cari­com Sin­gle Mar­ket Econ­o­my (CSME) at the Hy­att Re­gency next week. The key con­ver­sa­tion at the meet­ing, he ex­plained, will be al­le­ga­tions by oth­er mem­bers that Trinidad and To­ba­go has an un­fair ad­van­tage in Cari­com which needs to be ad­dressed. He said Cari­com coun­ter­parts were com­plain­ing that T&T man­u­fac­tur­ers were get­ting an un­fair ad­van­tage be­cause of cheap en­er­gy prices they were be­ing af­ford­ed here.
“I don't know what would be the out­come of that meet­ing but Trinidad and To­ba­go has forced that con­ver­sa­tion on the heads of Cari­com.” Source: The Guardian, Nov 2018

Some 130 res­i­dents of Fyz­abad were af­fect­ed af­ter flood wa­ters gushed in­to their prop­er­ties and homes yes­ter­day.
Fed up of this sit­u­a­tion, res­i­dents and Fyz­abad MP Lack­ram Bo­doe called on the au­thor­i­ties to fix the four of sev­en sluice gates which have been non-func­tion­al for sev­er­al years.
The ar­eas af­fect­ed were St John Trace, Av­o­cat, Ack­bar Trace and Chat­ter Av­enue.
Res­i­dent Rod­ney Ramjit, who owns a fur­ni­ture fac­to­ry at St John’s Trace, es­ti­mat­ed his loss­es to be more than $75,000.
He said, “The flood come up so fast I did not get time to move out every­thing. We save some things, but I lost a lot of fab­ric, foam and ma­te­ri­als.”
He said it be­gan rain­ing heav­i­ly on yes­ter­day morn­ing and by 4 pm the riv­er had burst its banks and the flood wa­ters start­ed to rise. He called on the Gov­ern­ment to dredge the riv­er and fix the flood­gates.
“The main prob­lem is that sev­en years now this riv­er not clean and then four flood­gates not work­ing. And that is the main prob­lem caus­ing this flood,” Ramjit said.
“We con­stant­ly com­plain­ing about it to the Min­istry of Works but they do­ing ab­solute­ly noth­ing. The min­is­ter came and looked at it at the be­gin­ning of the year, but noth­ing was done. I fed up of this thing. I have a busi­ness and I los­ing a lot of mon­ey.”
When the T&T Guardian called him lat­er on in the day, he said the flood wa­ters had risen again.
“Look the wa­ter com­ing up again. I have to call for help,” Ramjit said.
Bo­doe and his staff were yes­ter­day out in the floods ren­der­ing as­sis­tance to the res­i­dents and dis­trib­ut­ing wa­ter and food sup­plies. He ex­pressed con­cern about “gov­ern­ment’s re­luc­tance” to re­pair the sluice gates at St John Trace.
“As a re­sult of this the flood wa­ter, flow to the Godineau Riv­er and Gulf of Paria has been de­layed. I call on the Min­is­ter of Works again to ef­fect re­pairs to those sluice gates.”
Bo­doe al­so com­plained that he had re­ceived no help from the gov­ern­ment agen­cies.
“So far, it’s just my staff and some mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty who have been ren­der­ing help. The res­i­dents are in­di­cat­ing that the wa­ter is still ris­ing and they are a lit­tle bit fear­ful about what will hap­pen,” Bo­doe said, adding he and his staff will be out in the field to­day again ren­der­ing aid.
The Fyz­abad An­gli­can Sec­ondary School was closed yes­ter­day.
The Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion al­so said the North Oropouche Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry, North Oropouche RC and Debe Hin­du SDMS Pri­ma­ry School were closed as a re­sult of the de­te­ri­o­rat­ing weath­er.
“There were al­so ear­ly dis­missals for sev­er­al oth­er pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary schools and Ear­ly Child­hood Care and Ed­u­ca­tion (EC­CE) Cen­tres be­cause stu­dents and teach­ers were not able to ac­cess the school com­pound due to flood­ing in the com­mu­ni­ties,” the min­istry added.
The Pe­nal Quinam Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry School was opened as an emer­gency shel­ter for res­i­dents of Pe­nal/Debe and Bar­rack­pore who were hard hit by the floods.
​Source:  Guardian

THE GIRLS have done it again.
THE President medal winners for 2018 are Sadhana Balladin of St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando and Amrita Singh of Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College.4 

They were among the pupils of girls high schools who took the lions’ share of 376 national scholarships in 2018.
The list was announced by Ministry of Education Anthony Garcia on Thursday at the ministry’s office in Port of Spain, live on social media.
The schools which took the most scholarships was St Joseph’s Convent in Port of Spain (41), St Augustine Girls’ High School (34), Naparima Girls’ High School (31), Lakshmi Girls’ High School (24) and St Joseph’s Convent (18) in San Fernando.
The tops boys’ schools which were awarded scholarships were Hillview (35), Naparima Boys’ College (31), Presentation College Chaguanas (19), and Presentation College San Fernando (18)


Also awarded scholarships were - Couva East Secondary school (four), Debe Secondary School (one), St Francois Girls’ College (one), St George’s College (one).
Garcia identified St George’s College and Queen’s Royal College (QRC) as two schools which “normally do very well” but did not this year.
“QRC is not among the schools which have been awarded scholarships but I am sure that in the future they are going to improve. It has been a school that has been one of the bastions of academic excellence in the past. These things happen. Sometimes we have a year does not do too well but I am sure that the principal and students are going to step up to the plate next year and when these scholarships are being awarded they will be among those. Some schools that did exceptionally well for example St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain”, said Garcia.


He said overall that “most of our students have done well”.
Garcia said: “While we glorify and we are very happy with the performance of our students and we are very happy to know that we can award substantial number of scholarships, Cabinet was also very concerned about the apparent imbalance in terms of the number of scholarships that are awarded in particular areas of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. In Natural Sciences 188 scholarships were awarded and Mathematics 103 students received scholarships.
Garcia said that Cabinet decided to appoint an Inter-Ministerial committee that will do an in-depth analysis of the award of scholarships. In future scholarships should be closely tied to our developmental needs.
“In other words there are some areas to the continued development of our country and every opportunity should be given to our students so that they can do further work in these areas and this can assist us in the development of our country", he said.

Beverley Ramsey–Moore has been voted as the new president of Pan Trinbago.
Mrs Ramsey-Moore, current manager of Petrotrin Kat-zen-jammers Steel Orchestra, received 116 votes to beat out the other 7 candidates at the organisation’s internal elections on Sunday.
She replaces embattled incumbent Keith Diaz and has become the first woman to be in charge of the national pan body.
Ramsey-Moore contested the Pan Trinbago elections under the Team-Rebuild banner.
Mrs Ramsey Moore said her first order of business will be to review Pan Trinbago’s constitution with a particular focus on separating the powers of the executive and administrative arms of the organisation.
Former Port of Spain mayor Keron Valentine finished second with 54 votes.
Other candidates included Darren Sheppard, Keith Byer, Thecla Forde-Rodriguez, Vernon Morancie and businessmen Lawford Duprey and Robert Amar.
Source:  102FM

St Joseph's Convent Port-of-Spain has topped all schools for national scholarships. with a whopping 41, which includes 24 open and 17 additional.
The full list of scholarships-by-school, was released by the Ministry of Education today.
Hillview College was second best with 35 scholarships and St Augustine Girls High School, third with 34.
Couva East Secondary was the top government school with four scholarships.

The University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre (UWI-SRC) has announced that yet another earthquake has struck near Trinidad and Tobago. Waiting for it to be verified.

Michele Mohammed has broken a tradition that is 155 years old. The recently appointed vice principal at St Mary’s College (CIC), Port of Spain, is the first woman to ever hold that position in the history of the school. “Sometimes I still think I’m dreaming. But you know God is good and he knows why he does what he does,” she told WMN. “I know I’m breaking ground here and paving the way for other women to feel confident to come forward and apply for other positions like these.”
Mohammed acted in the position for two years before she was appointed in June. “I understand that it is a role of service and I want to be able to serve in the best way that I can. I consider it a real privilege to be in this position and humbled by it,” she said of her appointment.
The former head of department of Modern Languages now has an even bigger role to play in the lives of the 1,100 students and 81 teachers in her charge.


“Among my core duties are to ensure that classes are supervised at all times and the safety of the school,” she outlined. But she also still takes a hands-on approach. “I still teach because I believe it is important to be on the ground with the teachers, to understand what they are going through. I have a religion class and sometimes stand in for a Spanish or French teacher when they are not here, seeing that that is my area of expertise.”


But even though the job, like any other, comes with challenges, Mohammed knows what she is about because she has been an educator in the secondary school system for about 25 years. Her teaching career began at Corpus Christi Girls’ College in Diego Martin, then took her to Malick Secondary School where she taught for seven years.
“The transition was difficult at first because the boys presented a greater challenge. They were less focused than the girls and wanted to do more outdoor things and less in the classrooms. Sometimes they would get into fights and I tried to deal with it on my own, so I wouldn’t have to be running to admin all the time.” She said she learnt how to talk to and guide them. “I adapted because I grew up with brothers. I realised I had some sort of skill in me to interact with boys and to them. Those challenges helped me grow as a person.
“I remember one time I tried to physically part a fight but was advised not to ever do that again,” she chuckled. “But what I find and really love about boys is that they are quick to forgive. They do not hold grudges.”


The mother of two teenagers said although she enjoyed teaching at the other two schools, she absolutely loves working at CIC. “It is quite different. I enjoy being here because I am Catholic, and it is a Catholic school, so I am able to put my faith into practice more with the students.”
One of her biggest challenges since assuming role of vice principal, she said, is the bombardment of issues to be addressed. “The number of things that come to you at once. From the children, the teachers, parents. I have learnt how to prioritise, to put things in perspective. That is the major challenge. Deciding what needs attention now and what can wait,” she said as she attended to the sixth person to knock on her door during her interview with WMN. “This is how it is all day. This is just part of what my job entails.”
Strangely though, the VP position was never part of her career plan. “I did not see myself in this position. I was quite content as an HoD.” But with the retirement of the former VP she was advised by a member of the Holy Ghost Fathers Board to apply for the position.


“He spoke to other teachers as well and advised them to apply. I was hesitant because I knew it would have been a great task. I felt that I would have been under more scrutiny by virtue of the fact that I am female. And I was not certain that my application would have been taken seriously, although I am qualified for the position. I thought that maybe they would not have wanted a female at this level. It’s a very traditional school.”


Nevertheless, she interviewed with both the Board and the Ministry of Education and was successful. “Times are changing, and people are looking at females differently and realising that we can in fact do the job. I think we bring balance. The principal (Nigel Joseph) is allowed to see things through my eyes and me through his. I bring a kind of nurturing style of leadership. But I do know when I have to be stern. I can be that way as well.” She said the staff, student body and parents seem happy with her appointment.
Still though, she feels that she is under the microscope. “I feel that I’m being closely watched, but at the same time I know I’m being supported. I get words of encouragement from the different stakeholders. Word of acknowledgement that I’m doing a good job.” Asked if she sometimes feels pressured to toe the line, she said, “I suppose that happens everywhere. I must say that my principal gives me a lot of autonomy. He allows me to make decisions and sound them off with him. Most of the times he supports it. But this school is bigger than the principal and me and the staff. We are answerable to the Ministry of Education and the Holy Ghost Fathers Board. Most major decisions have to be approved by the Board.”
Mohammed and Joseph are currently working on several projects she believes will enhance the development the young men in their charge. “One of the main areas would be making our student more socially conscious of what is happening in the world around them and in their country. Making them empathetic and inculcating in them the desire to serve and help those that are less fortunate. It takes a lot of talking and good examples. I think we have to model what we want from young people.”
She firmly believes that curbing the prevalence of sexual violence against women must begin in the home and be extended to the schools. “Raising better children most definitely starts in the home and extends to the schools. We have to work in tandem with the home to inculcate values of respect to women and vice versa. We try as an institution. We hope the home is doing its part.”
As for the next step in her career? “I am not certain. I have no regrets taking up this position and I feel happy in it.” As for applying for the position of principal when Joseph retires, Mohammed insists it is not a consideration right now. “I have acted as principal on more than one occasion but it’s not something I’m considering at the moment. I will need a greater revelation from God where that is concerned.”
Source:  Newsday, October 2018

​TRINIDAD teachers Theresa Vieruel and Laura Welch are making the United States their new classroom. Both are part of a cultural exchange programme, Participate, that recruits teachers to work in US Schools for three to five years. Vieruel and Welch are two of of 10,000-plus teachers from 84 countries who have participated in the programme which has been operating for past 31 years. For the first time, Participate has five teachers from TT.
Vieruel, a 57-year-old teacher from Marabella, started her new job in the US as a kindergarten teacher at Elon Elementary School in North Carolina. She is gaining valuable experience and professional development by teaching in US classrooms, which she hopes to share with her Trinidad counterparts when she returns after her stint is finished. “It allows you to experience a different culture and teaching style. There is so much to learn which would enhance your own teaching on your return home,” said Vieruel in a media release.

One difference she notes, is the content in the school syllabus. “In Trinidad the syllabus is much more compact, and a lot of content has to be fit into one day, whereas in the US the content is lighter so there is more time to spend ensuring that the concepts are grasped by the children.” “The most enriching experience for me has been sitting with students and trying to satisfy their curiosity and interest about my home country which allowed me to share who we are as a people,” Vieruel said.
Welch, who is 25 years old, is originally from West Trinidad. She teaches at Eastlawn Elementary School, also in North Carolina. As a full-time kindergarten teacher, she teaches all core subjects which include reading, math, literacy and science. So far, she has had great experiences teaching in the US.
“The school that I work at has amazing outdoors spaces where my class and I often go to explore, learn and engage with nature in ways that they may not get a chance to in their daily lives. In fact, two teachers worked together to obtain a creativity grant for our school. The grant was used to create a garden area with the objective of creating a space for students to be exposed to experiences that would assist them in making healthier food choices and develop both social and life skills by working together to nurture the plants,” she said.
The garden was also a unique learning session for Welch’s class. “Within the first nine weeks of school my students creatively learnt their math skills by sorting and counting seeds as well as used inch cubes to measure the planting areas for their seeds,” she said.
In addition to making sure her charges are well-rounded students, Welch hopes to build a closer relationship with them, as she did with students in TT. “Trinidad and Tobago is a small country and as such many teachers often have a close relationship with their students’ families. Therefore, allowing us to be more aware of our students’ home environments and the challenges they face in their personal lives,” she said. Professionally, Laura says she is learning an entirely new skill set as it relates to the curriculum which she hopes to implement when she returns to TT.


Participate’s Teacher Recruitment Manager Ronald Ramírez said teaching abroad offers great insight. “It is a valuable learning experience for the Trinidad teachers, their students and colleagues. Teachers have the opportunity to integrate into new communities and schools, where they will develop both professionally and personally,” he said.
There are opportunities to teach primary school, maths, science, and world languages (including English as a Second Language). All positions are full-time and salaried, with competitive health benefits and professional development opportunities. As an additional benefit, in case the teacher recruited has a family, it is possible for the members to travel to United States with all migratory arrangements accomplished and supported by the program to obtain the visa. Participants must agree, however, to complete a minimum of two years on the programme to ensure continuity and stability for learners at participating schools in the United States.
Participate partners with schools in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. All three states are in the Southeast USA. Placements are in rural, suburban, or urban settings. Schools are carefully evaluated for suitability and need.
Primary schools teachers who are interested in teaching in the US and want more info: go.participate.com/trinidadandtobago

Suzette Louwe speaks out