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  • 2 years ago
Expelled students over the age of 16 are not required to register with the MILAT program if they have to continue their education outside of the mainstream school system.

Clarification coming from the Education Minister in the Senate, on Friday.

As an independent Senator asked about the legal authority of placing expelled students into the MILAT programme.

Juhel Browne reports.
Transcript
00:00 MyLight is a military-led academic training program, a social intervention program,
00:04 which is not conducted or supervised by the Minister of Education.
00:09 So how are you fitting students into that program?
00:13 The question Independent Senator Hazel Thompson-Ayee posed to Education Minister Dr. Nyan Gatsbidole
00:19 in the Senate on Friday, just one day after the Minister announced that Cabinet has given
00:24 the green light for expelled pupils from the Trinidad and Tobago school system to be transitioned
00:30 to the MyLight, the military-led academic training program.
00:34 This is a decision of the government, it's a policy of the government and it's arrangement
00:38 between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth Development that is guided
00:41 by an MOU.
00:43 The MyLight falls under the Ministry of Youth Development and National Service.
00:46 Expulsion of students by the Minister under certain circumstances.
00:51 MyLight is a special educational institution and can therefore accommodate the educational
00:57 continuity of students outside of the mainstream school system.
01:02 This is the legal framework which underpins the compulsory enrollment of students under
01:06 the age of 16 into MyLight.
01:09 The Independent Senator continued to seek clarification from the Education Minister.
01:14 For those students over the age of 16, while they are not required to compulsorily register,
01:21 the MOU will continue to recommend their registration at MyLight and assist in any way possible
01:27 to allow them to continue their education in that transformative environment.
01:32 So you are saying that you really have no authority because they are not under your
01:39 program.
01:40 MyLight is not run by you.
01:42 At times, Senate President Nigel De Fritos intervened.
01:45 So it is a policy and it is not a law.
01:52 You have no legal, that's really what you say.
01:54 You have no legal right.
01:55 No, Senator Thompson, you are making a statement.
01:58 Is there a question?
01:59 The Independent Senator again asked the Education Minister about her legal authority in the
02:04 matter.
02:05 Mr. President, on the basis of the advice from the legal department, the Minister of
02:09 Education is given the responsibility for the educational continuity of all of our students
02:15 under the age of 16 and to ensure that they are in educational institutions.
02:19 MyLight is such an educational institution and therefore the MOU between the Ministry
02:26 of Education and the MyDNS allows for the transition of students who are expelled from
02:31 the mainstream school system into the MyLight system to allow for their educational continuity
02:37 and to allow them a chance to develop into productive citizens.
02:42 During a media conference on Thursday, the Education Minister said 10 students had been
02:47 expelled from the school system this year, an increase from the three who had been expelled
02:52 last year.
02:53 Jule Brown, TV6 News.
02:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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