Kalifa Logan, of La Horquetta, was refused permission to the Roman Catholic-run school by principal Sr Adrianna Noel because of her dreadlocks. Logan was assigned to the school two weeks ago after doing well in the Secondary Examination Assessment (SEA).

Following Sr Adrianna’s decision that Logan’s hairstyle was not in keeping with the school’s dress code or policy, Archbishop Edward Gilbert intervened on September 22 and ordered her to accept Logan. The Archbishop, in a release from the archdiocese in Port-of-Spain, said he held a joint meeting with the Episcopal Delegates for Education, Social Justice, Communications, the Catholic Board of Education and Sr Adrianna. He said based on consultation, it was decided that "Kalifa Logan, a registered student at St Charles High School, who was not recommended for transfer for religious reasons, shall be welcome to take a place at St Charles High School without prejudice, should she wish to do so."

Archbishop Gilbert also apologised to Logan and her family for any "misunderstanding."

Kalifa Logan has refused to go to St Charles High School. Her mother, Lynette Marshall, felt that her daughter would have been victimised had she decided to go there.

"Remember, the nun was the person who say she cannot come to the school in the first place," Marshall said on September 22. "I fel that my daughter will continue to be victimised."

Marshall said her daughter would only go to the school if Sr Adrianna resigned.

Yasin Abu Bakr, who led a failed coup d’etat against the government in 1990, has, through his organisation, the Jamaat al Muslimeen, offered her a place at the Islamic College on Mucurapo Road, St James. But Logan’s father, Reynond, has said she will not be going there either as it’s too far for her to travel from La Horquetta in the east to Mucurapo Road in the west.

Logan began attending El Dorado Secondary School on September 26. Her presence there piqued the interest of her fellow schoolmates who gathered outside the school to greet her.

The issue of Logan’s hairstyle has drawn comments from many quarters, educational, political and social.

Education Minister Hazel Manning said on September 30 that the government had no jurisdiction over the rules and regulations of private schools.

"We look after our schools, government schools and special arrangments are made with government-assisted schools, but we have no jurisdiction over private schools," Manning said. "We cannot force a school to change its rules."

Attorney General John Jeremie expressed a similar sentiment.

"Private institutions have no obligations to comply with the provisions of the Constitution," he said. Additionally, anyone who feels aggrieved can pursue legal options to seek redress.

Arouca South MP, Camille Robinson-Regis, had told Marshall that plans were being made to have Logan enrolled at El Dorado Secondary School.

Apart from members of the public who wrote letters to the editor criticising Sr Adrianna’s decision on the grounds of discrimination, Logan also had support from others.

Dr Lenny Saith, Minister of Public Administration and Information, said on September 23 that any private institution requiring approval to operate must comply with the law and not discriminate against any citizen.

The government pays for some students to take up spaces at St Charles High School. "Where the State is buying services from private institutions, the State must ensure that the service it is buying is consistent with what the government as a government has to do in terms of its policy, whether it is school places, private medical services or whatever."

Former Presbyterian moderator Rev Cyril Paul and dreadlocked MP Fitzgerald Hinds were both in her corner.

Paul said the issue needed to have been treated with greater sensitivity and that her rights were protected in the national anthem’s words, "every creed and race finds an equal place."

Hinds, an attorney, said he was disturbed by the matter and suggested that it should be tested and ventilated in a court.

Sr Adrianna had one staunch supporter in the name of Sat Maharaj, general secretary of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, which runs a number of Hindu schools in Trinidad and Tobago. Maharaj had openly voiced his support of St Charles’ rules about its dress code.

Maharaj clashed with Ricardo Welch, host of Gladiator radio show, during a discussion on Principles of Fairness at the Hilton Trinidad on September 28. Maharaj contended that Rastafarian hairstyles were banned by some African football teams, referring to a Reuters story of attempts to stop young Nigerian footballers from wearing hair braids, dreadlocks or earrings.

The Hindu organisation leader, who regularly expresses opinions that stir controversy, believes that his stance on the Logan issue was connected to an attempt to firebomb his home on September 25. One of four molotov cocktails exploded at his Champs Fleurs home. Maharaj said a broken bottle with what appeared to be gasoline-soaked channa was found. Three other unbroken bottles were found in his property, Maharaj said, leading him to think that a threat was being made against him and his family. He reported the matter to the St Joseph Police Station.

"My safety and family’s safety is threatened for a stance I took on behalf of the Maha Sabha about dress codes in school. And this comes on the heels of a similar position I took on the banning of the hijab at a Catholic school," Maharaj said.

"For that position, six bullets were fired at my home in the wee hours of the morning also. That time, I said I would not be intimidated and again, I say the same now."

Mahabir-Wyatt made the claim at the launch of several training workshops to sensitise the judiciary on domestic and gender-based violence at the council’s headquarters in Robinsonville, Belmont.

She said she knew of instances where cases were withdrawn by victims because of the off-hand way they were treated in court.

"Very often when they got to court, the trauma that the victim suffered in court was equivalent to what they had suffered as victims," she said.

Mahabir-Wyatt said that one out of every four women in Trinidad and Tobago was the victims of physical, sexual, psychological or financial abuse.

The workshops plan to focus on the difference between gender and sex, legislative frameworks and domestic violence case studies, as well as reasons for domestic violence.

Dr Pat Hall, one the training facilitators, said history had played a role in domestic violence, as Caribbean history in particular was born from violence.

Rosemary Clement, a Barbadian survivor of domestic violence, recalled that when she first reported her case to the police station, officers chided her and told her they were not priests.

Later on, Clement was shot four times by her abuser, and lost sight in her left eye.

She added that the police’s reaction to her plea was indicative of society’s focus on domestic violence cases.

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) T&T representative William Robinson said domestic violence impacted seriously on a country’s development.

"In recent years, violence bred in homes has been escalating to greater and greater levels of violence in our communities, to the point where security in Trinidad and Tobago has become a national concern," he said.

Samaroo, a former Naps pupil, said his alma mater had a rich history and a promising future because the school had successfully managed race relations and cultural diversity.

Delivering the feature address at the school’s annual graduation and speech day ceremony at the Susamachar Presbyterian Church, San Fernando, on Saturday, Samaroo said: "This nation can learn valuable lessons from the Naparima experience in managing race relations and multi-culturalism."

He said that President George Maxwell Richards recently lamented the manner in which race relations had deteriorated in Trinidad and Tobago.

"He asked that everyone talk about this matter and come up with solutions, and in this regard, Naparima College can be most instructive," Samaroo said.

He said Naparima College was founded by Canadian missionaries who were concerned about the education of East Indians.

"The school admitted non-Christians, Hindus, Muslims and created a unique experience of multi-ethnic and multi-religious camaraderie," he said.

This week Port-of-Spain City Corporation’s chief public health inspector, Sayad Ali, and his team of 30 members are out on the streets on what is being called a "pre-Christmas food surveillance survey".

Ali told the media that with the extensive media publicity afforded his opposite number, Selwyn Waterman, and his San Fernando public health crew for their efforts in the south, Port-of-Spain Mayor Murchison Brown had been making anxious enquiries about a drive in the city.

Some 15 businesses were ordered closed and to put their houses in order, after vermin like rats and cockroaches were found in their kitchens by Waterman’s group.

Ali said he had to reassure Brown that this type of drastic exercise was not necessary in Port-of-Spain, because the Public Health Department he headed maintained a high work ethic.

"We practise preventative public health," Ali said, explaining that the city was not downtown Port-of-Spain alone, but extended from Cocorite to the Beetham flyover, from the Audrey Jeffers Highway to Laventille.

He said the area was divided into 20 districts, and each was monitored by a public health inspector who ensured the highest sanitation standards were met by the snocone vendor to fast food outlets and supermarkets. Within the city, he estimated, there were more than 1,000 premises that dispensed food to the public and which merited constant monitoring from his department.

He said his staff visited these premises routinely, and advised the managers or owners of their concerns. Visits were also paid after complaints by members of the public.

"We do not sensationalise our activities," Ali noted, adding that every public health department in the municipalities would have its own operational style.

He said what the public did not know was that public health inspectors had much more responsibilities than simply monitoring food premises.

In Port-of-Spain, he said, in addition to food safety, his staff monitored solid waste management collection, sewage disposal, school sanitation, infectious diseases, insect vector control and the ongoing dengue alert.

"We have a special crew to look after mosquitoes, as well as rodents. And we are the only Public Health Department in the municipalities which has an anti-rabies unit."

He said the staff was engrossed in occupational hygiene, ensuring that the workplaces in the city were safe for employees.

The department also monitored vacant lots, so that they would not become nuisances to neighbours as depositories of garbage or allowed to become overgrown with bushes.

Inspections are carried out at medical facilities, like hospitals and nursing homes, as well as homes for the aged.

"While others have a particular way of doing their work, we have our own plans and practices and carry them out on a routine basis," Ali said.

"The pre-Christmas food surveillance survey we are about to undertake is also routine. Every year around this time we focus on food premises for a month."