18th
Feburary 2010
NO SCHOOLS’
RALLY?
Stan Bishop
(Photo)
This graceful scene from last year's Youth Rally
may take years to be repeated. Inset: Sen. Gaspard
Charlemagne
According
to information emanating from the Ministry of
Education, this year’s National Schools’
Rally has been called off.
The rally, one of the key activities on the
island’s annual independence activities
roster, The VOICE was informed, has been stricken
from the island’s thirty-first independence
anniversary calendar. The rally was slated for
this morning at the Vigie Sports Complex.
Several calls to the Ministry of Education yesterday
confirmed one thing: that the rally would no
longer take place today. Confirmation as to
whether it was being cancelled or postponed,
however, was not forthcoming.
When the official calendar of events for independence
2010 was unveiled two weeks ago, organizers
placed strong emphasis on highlighting celebrations
that portrayed a national unity quality. Chair
of the 2010 Independence Committee, Senator
Gaspard Charlemagne, had indicated at the launch
that despite working with a limited budget,
St. Lucia’s thirty-first anniversary celebrations
would focus on developing national pride.
Further, the activities were spread across the
length and breadth of the country in an effort
to decentralize what usually takes the form
of a “Castries thing.”
“For too long, people have been given
the impression that once activities are held
in the capital, then that’s good enough,”
Charlemagne had said. “We want to give
the people in the rural communities an opportunity
to participate, so that they don’t have
any reason to criticize.”
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