by Colin Hyde

I hope no one thinks I am rude when I say how I feel about this distraction—children and youth and hair. Okay, I haven’t forgotten that my late area rep, Agripino Cawich, reminded us that little things can have serious consequences, but this is one I don’t think makes the cut for gravity. Really, we should be able to let it all out when we talk about hair.

So, we are not doing too well on the Math and the English and the Science, but we are concerned about the hair policy at school. I keep hearing the word, culture. Well, I think school culture counts for something.

Ah, when I was a high school boy with a madabig afro, one day one of my uncles sneered when he saw me. When I asked him what it was about, he said he didn’t like the hygiene of big hair. Agh, did you see that movie in which Blackbeard, the dangerous pirate, wiped his greasy fingers in his beard?

My overworked mom had many children to get ready for school every morning, and the last two she took care of every morning, her two daughters, were the most difficult. My two sisters had thick hair, and my mom had a task to get them ready for school. My older sister in particular wasn’t too compliant. I bet she broke a few combs. Well, look at life, eh? They loved their big hair when my mom had to take care of it, but immediately after they turned teenagers and had to care for their hair themselves, they turned to small, neat afros. I am sure my older brothers used to tell our mom to cut off their hair. It would have been so much easier on my mom.

Compre didn’t have a hair policy for boys. There, Sister Sarita let us run free. A few of us had the madabig afros, and a couple boys with straight hair wore theirs like the Plains Indians did. The girls had to walk the line. If any damsels wore their skirt beyond two inches above the knees, well, Sista neva allow that. I say, if girls can’t not be a distraction for boys at co-ed school they have to be sent to girls’ school.

Children can’t keep big hair clean, and our youths should be studying their books, not preening their hair and squandering effort to keep it clean. I will say hooray for the first school that insists that boys go peeli, and for girls to crop theirs.

Aha, the brave Reporter dropped a complaint about teachers not making the grade. Some time back I had made the suggestion, yes, me, for an exam for our teachers, not to embarrass anyone, but to, of necessity, find out which of them need remedial courses. I thought it could be done confidentially. Well, no need for me to offer suggestions about the process, the Reporter says teachers who don’t make the grade know who they are, they make up 30% of the teaching ranks, and the reason they don’t improve themselves is because they “claim” to not be able to afford the courses they have to take. Congratulations to the Reporter (editorial) for having the courage to tackle this critical matter.

My fellow Belizeans, the MoE has run from the PSE, and you had better not call me cynical when I say I don’t buy their argument that that decision had nothing to do with the less-than-encouraging scores our students have been getting. It is a competitive world. It would be natural to assume that the bar set on our PSE compares to those of exams that primary school students in the Caribbean and Central America are sitting. We can’t tune away from those levels. There must be a visible target.

I’m no poster boy for education, but immediately after I became PTA president at our primary school in Camalote, I called for subject teaching, for Math and English. Because our political leaders and the educated elite and the rich business people live in the cities and towns, the youth in those areas have better educational opportunities than children and youth in villages. The rich and famous grab the teachers with the best education. We don’t have enough qualified Math and English teachers for all the classes in village primary schools, hence the need for deploying the best teachers in those areas across all the classes. Unfortunately, I was ignored.

Closing on this PSE, I think running from it came from the place which decided that primary school students don’t need to know their times table anymore. And about the hair thing, give all principals a pair of scissors, and before we lose our male children altogether, give them a sash kaad or shooti broom too.

PUP shud deliver on every reform it promised

The suggestion by the People’s Constitutional Commission (PCC) that the government shud hold off on reforms to the Constitution since there are discussions taking place to revise it, well that won’t work out in the best interest of the people. The people made their positions known, and the NTUCB marched through the streets to reinforce the call for change. The PUP came to power with manifesto promises to effect specific change, and nothing should stop them, besides, ehm, insincerity. The PUP should be acting on its promises, and if the people in discussions want to reverse them, then let the PCC go ahead with its recommendations.

We are told that this PCC is to forward its recommendations within 18 months, and that those recommendations will go to referendum, most likely in the next general election. That is impractical. What the Commission is doing right now is leg work with the traditional intellectuals. At the end of 18 months, when the PCC presents its recommendations, it’s then that the discussions will really begin.

The time allotted for this process is way too short. I see the PM’s hand here, and it is exposing one of his follies. I’ve told you that everyone has holes in their head, and one of his is being exposed here. John B. is a man on a mission, and his urgency should be applauded, because life haad out ya, his people have needs. Some things have to be rushed. But some things can’t be rushed, and a new Constitution is one of them.

When the Reform Commission of 2000 presented its ideas to the Said Musa government, the expectation was that there would be immediate action, implementation. After the Musa government had followed through on a few of them, one of which put an end to crossing the floor, the process stalled, and when tested S. Musa said they were encountering difficulties with some recommendations because they were affecting unintended parts of the Constitution.

While we didn’t have much (any) say in our Constitution, we know it was guided by a country that had been there and done that for a thousand years. That’s why the parts fit. We know why the anti-cross-the-floor law was passed in Belize, and the consensus is that we got what we didn’t want.

The PUP has a mandate for reform, and they should be working on it. The PCC should go on with its business. When they have forwarded their new constitution, it is then that the real debate will begin. It’s way too ambitious to take a new constitution to referendum in 2025.

Congratulations, Gilharry 7

Thank you to Ms. Kim Vasquez and the crew at NICH for the splendid recognition given to one of our special roots bands during this year’s celebration, the Gilharry 7. The matriarch of the Gilharrys said the group has been entertaining us for 50 years. I don’t mean to disrespect rum haters, but the music I love most are the ones I turn to when I have my bottle. Everyone knows rum drinkers love to cry. We start hype, with “Habanero”, but as the evening wears on, we feel the pain, No llores mi vida.