Another parent, Candace Martindale, has taken to social media to express her outrage at the decision taken by the Allied Arts Unit judges to disqualify her child’s entry into the regional Children’s Mashramani Poetry Competition.
The poem was titled “Dear Minister” and dealt with a teacher’s working conditions.
Dear Minister
Not even a greeting, No “miss how are you? or “Miss how you doing?” Is a big red line next to my name/ they think this East Bank traffic easy/ plus I need some extra sleep on a morning/ especially with this big belly (pants and walks around on stage angry)/ Yuh know wuh, fuss lemme charge this fan/ then I’m gonna write a letter to Minister Priya Manickchand (grabs bag, sits with pen and book)
Dear Minister Manickchand,
This is a teachers, cry and overwhelming, “fed up” plea,
I know salary is one thing, but I want to address the things you don’t see,
The furniture falling, watch, watch, this chair ripping up my clothes and my stockings.
Staffroom too small so I have to sit in this class whole day
Can’t even catch my breath properly for five minutes
(breathes and holds stomach) this life ain’t easy”
This poem was supposed to be performed by Zoriah Martindale, but she was denied the opportunity after the Allied Arts Unit rejected her entry without a giving a reason.
Martindale then took to Facebook to express her frustration with the development and her post stated, “My daughter attained the 1st place position at the 11-13 dramatic poetry regional competition. She recited a beautiful poem written by her teacher about the struggles she faced as a pregnant teacher.
“Tomorrow (Friday) is the National competition and Allied Arts; the body reviewing the entries, decided today that they are disqualifying her entry.
“Apparently you can’t say …about anything teacher related because all these “Free Arts” imposters aligning it with politics. I tired of the whole bunch of y’all!!!”
The Sunday Stabroek reached out to both Martindale and the teacher, Kieana Greene, who wrote the poem. Greene stated that she was disappointed by the body’s decision to reject the entry, “I did not expect the piece to be disqualified, I was saddened and disappointed hearing this the night before the competition.”
She added that the piece highlighted her struggles as a pregnant teacher. “The poem not only highlights pregnancy struggles I face personally as a teacher, but general conditions some teachers work under. The character in the poem is a pregnant trainee teacher who symbolizes this, she writes a letter to the minister addressing teachers’ working conditions, not specifically focussed on salary, which you’ll see in the script.
The poem was written before the ongoing teachers’ strike, so it wasn’t intended to tie in with it, but I guess the timings were all too well aligned.”
Greene noted that the competition allows for creative expression, “Mashramani competitions normally highlight various social issues in calypso, poem, and dance category, and I believe it’s a chance participants get to bring awareness, in my case I tried to do so in a serious yet slightly comedic way working with the student. However seeing other pieces somewhat similar to mine also being disqualified puts forward new expectations to what should be expected at the Mashramani Competition, which I believe limits expressions and creativity.”
Martindale meanwhile, said that it was a struggle getting her child to the competition in the first place. “I am very upset at the fact that nobody looks at the amount of energy, the amount of time and the amount of monies people put into these events. Miss Greene was so dedicated and she went the extra mile”, she said. Martindale stated that on Thursday when they were informed of the developments, no reason was given as to why the disqualification happened. “They were giving no reason why they were not going forward with the entry and that’s even more insulting.” She said that she found the move by the judges to be very “ludicrous” after they would have made the decision after they had already chosen a winner.
“Allied Arts is very ridiculous and it bothers me because it shows me that the art form itself is somewhat limited.”
Martindale posited that these events would usually highlight a real social issue regardless of politics and should not be suppressed to appease an administration’s insecurities.
The decision to disqualify the calypso of a six-year-old, Ezika Minty on the government’s 6.5% wage increased triggered outrage that the child right to free speech was being censored and that the ministry was being unduly sensitive to criticism in full contravention of the well-established social commentary evoked by decades of calypsos in the Caribbean.
The Allied Arts Unit defended the decision to disqualify Ezika.
“The Allied Arts Unit emphasizes that decisions made are based on established rules that have been in place for many years, specifically focusing on the appropriateness of items in relation to age groups. Two items were rejected, and the respective schools were duly advised with transparent communication on the reasons behind the decisions.
“The Allied Arts Unit asserts its unwavering commitment to positions of respect, civility, values, ethics, morals, and standards. The focus is on ensuring that the content presented aligns with the age appropriateness stipulated by the rules set well in advance of the competition. It is crucial to highlight that the intention is not to censor satirical content but to maintain age-appropriate standards and to teach commence with rules in line with the longstanding principles upheld by individuals associated with the competition”, the release said.
When questioned on why the officials waited until Ezika arrived at the highest level to be embarrassingly disqualified, Head of the Allied Arts Unit of the Ministry of Education, Nicholas Fraser told Stabroek News on Thursday that the region is at fault for letting it pass through their hands. He noted that he issued a letter to said region to explain the unfortunate situation so that it would not transpire again.
One of the guidelines found in the rules booklet states, that “The lyrics of the calypso MUST be submitted to the Unit of Allied Arts along with the Entry Forms”. This indicates that the lyrics were first vetted by the relevant officials before the contestant was allowed to perform onstage.
According to several sources close to the ministry and who would have worked on different occasions at the Children’s Costume Competition, there have been instances where political entries were overlooked. These sources surmised that this time the calypso entry was not permitted given the current unrest with teachers across Guyana over their salaries.
On Thursday, Fraser declined to give further information apart from that in the press release issued by the unit. However, he referenced rule 10 of the Children’s Mash Booklet which states, “The calypso can be based on any topic excluding Politics and Religion”.
