Amidst the doom and gloom of the economy, the bad politics and other difficult or demeaning circumstances affecting Anguilla, the top students of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School must be commended for their outstanding performance in the May-June CXC exams.
It is indeed heartening that our students are excelling when there are so many negatives to combat, thus bringing positive hope for a brighter future for our island. If our young people were to continue on this excellent path of success, there is little or no doubt that they and Anguillla will be beacons in theCaribbean, and the world in general, of which we are all citizens. ForAnguillato be led by young visionaries, it would further justify the successes, rights and freedoms, as well as educational opportunities for which our forebears nobly and valiantly fought.
Our teachers must also be commended and respected for their important role in educating our children. Parents must also be congratulated for supporting our students in their education. And all of us, Anguillians, should be proud of them who are our future politicians, doctors, lawyers, educators and other professionals.
It is unfortunate, that despite the obvious efforts of our students to excel, that the Government has not yet passed the Education Act which, among other matters, is supposed to govern our education system, ensure the rights of our students and help safeguard their future development.
The draft legislation has been in mid-air, so to speak, since in 2009, and it is shameful that for some strange reasons our political leaders appear to be treating this critical Bill as if it were a toy. One minute it is before the House of Assembly for passage and the next it is thrown out. If it were something that could smash up like a glass, it would by now have been in a million fragments. That is how infants treat a costly toy when they feel like playing with it, or do not appreciate its value.
Anguillians did not vote for infants. Our Government leaders, and the Speaker in the House of Assembly, must put aside what appears to be childish ways, and vain excuses, and allow the Education Bill to be passed. The rest of the region has forged ahead with and is benefitting from the Bill, which is in fact a model for the OECS sub-region. Why mustAnguillabe the black sheep, lagging aimlessly behind?
The Bill, now an old piece of draft legislation, and not a new measure, as the Speaker claimed, has already been through a rigorous and protracted period of consultations and amendments. All of the so-called controversial aspects of the Bill have been reworked and modified, yet it remains dead as a door nail and as if it had never been crafted.
In the name of our outstanding students in the CXC Examinations, let the Education Bill be returned to the House of Assembly and passed without further delay!
