In Trinidad and Tobago, and other parts of the Caribbean region, the education systems are not so perfect.  The vision of becoming a developed society is becoming less and less clear when we hear about the growing amount of violence in schools. Children get into fights, teachers are attacked, bullying is on the rise which is all reflecting that the standard of discipline in schools has dropped drastically. It leads one to wonder what is the real reason for education in the first place? While the blame game is played from parents to teacher to the influence of music and media, violence is plaguing the schools. 

 

Instead of a place for teaching discipline and skills that will lead a student to a successful life, the school has become a warzone for some. Therefore, students no longer see or is no longer taught the importance education. This in itself is problematic. While it is the responsibility of the parent to push their child towards education, sometimes the parents themselves need the education to do such. A generational habit then develops and the society becomes affected by this as some students eventually drop out of school, poverty become even more prominent and criminal activity increases which hinders development of the country. 

IsDePainInMe. “Mighty Sparrow - Education” Online video clip.  Youtube. Youtube, 11 Apr 2010. Web. 13 April 2017. 

Chamarie, Vikash. Short Essay on Education and its Advantages. 24 July 2015. Web.  Accessed 13 April 2017.  http://www.importantindia.com/19774/short-essay-on-education-and-its-advantages/

 
Figure 2: Image below showing the headlines from one of Trinidad's newspapers, Newsday, where the headlines express the level at which school violence has reached. 

Our social environment of the region has become a multicultural and extraordinarily diverse one. The various groups of people who came to the region has left remnants of their way of life in the culture that we live in today. Some of the key elements that identify the Caribbean region are our common historical legacy of slavery, indentureship and now globalization, the norms and values inherited from plantation lifestyle, our love for music and arts, the high regard for cricket and our similar practices in our family life such as our closeness and hospitality. 

According to Glyne Griffith, in his book Caribbean Cultural Identities, the labour of the Caribbean is the major contributor to our Caribbean identity of today (2001: 22). This is interesting as the labour force during the time of colonization were made up of a diverse type of people. These are the people who are majorly responsible for the mixture of culture evident in the Caribbean today. Most Caribbean writers today are heavily influenced by our rich colonial history and so they portray this in their literature.

Boxill, Ian. et al. Ideology and Caribbean Intergration. Attitudes towards Integration: Ideology or Ideation. Printed in Canada, 1993. p.78. Web.

Griffith, Glyne. Caribbean Cultural Indenties. Caribbean Labour, Culture and Identity: George Lamming. Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp., 2001. p. 22. Web. 

Figure 4: The image below shows an image of famouns cricketer, Shivnarine Chanderpaul as he jokingly challenges the rocord of Viv Richards. 

 

Gender equality is described to be the giving of the same access to resources regardless of their gender. In some cases, there is evidence of gender equality taking place in societies of the Caribbean. Men and women being employed in areas that were traditionally known as male oriented jobs such as CEPEP and URP in Trinidad and Tobago. There are women even owning businesses and holding high positions in companies and even in parliament. 

 

Gender equity is the provision of what is needed to succeed in a given sector based on the understanding of the needs of each gender. As compared to gender equality, equity is also evident but to a lesson extent. This is a move towards further development and is slowly becoming part of societies workplace policies.

 

Gender issues have been a hot topic for some time in the Caribbean and has begun to effect changes in our society. it is a hope that eventually, this will contribute to the regions development out of third world status leading us closer to first world status.

Ellis, Patricia. Women, Gender and Development in the Caribbean: Reflections and Proections. Women at Work and a Home. Ian Randle Publishers, 2003. p.17.Web. 


Figure 5: The image below shows a quote made my Nelson Mandela on gender equality.