The disqualifying of a child from the Mashramani calypso competition as her offering queried the 6.5% increase handed out by government has sparked criticism of the Ministry of Education.
“Tell me, how we must survive with 6.5?” were the words of the chorus uttered by a schoolgirl during the Region Six Mashramani competition calypso and dramatic poetry event held on Tuesday.
The words of the calypso were: “Tell me how I must survive with 6.5? Please tell meh how I must survive with 6.5? I have a burning issue on meh chest /I can’t even rest/how cost of living everything doubling/this thing troubling/ tell me how I must carry on with a seemingly one arm? Tell me how I must survive with 6.5? Every time I go to the market everything sky rocket/ rice, the beans, the cheese the liver/ them mek me want shiver/ tell me how I must carry on with a seemingly one arm?/ tell me how I must survive with 6.5?/ please tell me how I must survive with 6.5?/ The other day the landlord come fuh he rent/ I pay him the last few cents/ plus GPL GWI and the rest of bill/I pay them against meh will/ tell me how I must carry on with a seemingly one arm?/ tell meh how I must survive with 6.5”.
This seemingly did not sit well with the judges which resulted in the young contestant being disqualified from the competition.
Angered by this, the Guyana Teachers’ Union took to their Facebook page to protest against the child’s disqualification from the competition.
In their caption above the video which featured the young child reciting the calypso it stated “Let’s gaff this thing @followers. Is this song Political or Social?
Imagine our caring Ministry of Education – Guyana disenfranchised this Little Angel from competing at the National Competition because they deemed this song to be POLITICAL. Imagine all the work that had to be put in by the teachers, parents, and child to master this song.
If this doesn’t open our eyes to the fullest then nothing will.
This is how you care?
This is how you treat our future?
Shame on you.”
The post also tagged various organisations, including the Caribbean Union of Teachers.
In a response posted on their Facebook page on Wednesday morning, the Ministry of Education issued an explanation for the ministry’s action captioned, “Allied Arts Unit Addresses Recent allegations of ‘vindictiveness’ raised by GTU on the National Children’s Mash-ramani Competition” where it stated that the Allied Arts Unit of the Ministry of Education is dedicated to maintaining principles of excellence, respect, and ethical conduct within the education system. Addressing concerns raised by the Guyana Teachers’ Union regarding the National Children’s Mashramani Competition, the Unit emphasised adherence to established rules, particularly concerning :”age-appropriate” content. Decisions to reject certain items were communicated transparently to schools, with a focus on upholding standards rather than censoring content.
Compliance with competition rules was essential for fairness and served as a teaching opportunity. It added that the Unit remains committed to fostering a learning environment that promotes these values while ensuring alignment with competition regulations.
However, netizens supporting the young talent expressed their discontent over the disqualification of the young child, voicing their disappointment in the comments section of the Ministry of Education’s press release on Facebook.
Imran Ally asked, “How can you now say that the piece is non-compliant when the very unit applied the same rules at the Sub-Regional and Regional Finals? Why it was not disqualified from the competition from the beginning, seeing that it didn’t meet the MoE’s Unit of Allied Arts standards and qualification criteria? Double, triple, and quadruple standards are being perpetrated so censor and silent our voices.”
This was followed by a comment from Stacy Daniels. “Social issues are topics or subjects that impact many people. They often reflect current events but also represent longstanding problems or disagreements that are difficult to solve. Beliefs, opinions, and viewpoints can be strong, and debate on these topics is a natural outcome of public discourse. Isn’t calypso based on social issues?”
And Tiendi Heyliger-Campbell noted, “This song was performed at the sub-regional level then to the regional level, being judged by officials from the Ministry of Education. So how is it that now they know that it’s not keeping with the rules established by the Allied Arts Department?”
The video posted to the Guyana Teachers’ Union page was met with support by many who expressed appreciation for the performance.
