(Trinidad Express) Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday bestowed an additional gift on Olympic gold medallist Keshorn Walcott by naming the Toco Secondary School after him.
Just before one o’clock yesterday morning, Persad-Bissessar made the announcement at a reception for Walcott at the Toco Secondary School, energising the very tired crowd who had waited hours to see him.
Persad-Bissessar said as she was walking into the school compound, she saw Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh and told him the school would be named the Keshorn Walcott Secondary School.
The Prime Minister also assured the school’s principal, Verona Davis-Modeste, that the school would be taken care of in terms of the need for resources.
“Madam, I know you heart is with the development of our children as mine is, and our Minister of Education is now instructed to do whatever is necessary to develop the facilities here at this school at Toco, and Madam principal, if he doesn’t do it, come and tell me; I’ll take care of you,” said Persad-Bissessar.
Davis-Modeste, who spoke before Persad-Bissessar, highlighted the many challenges the school faced with its sporting programmes.
“It was here that the talent of Keshorn Walcott, 2012 men’s javelin gold medallist, was unearthed and nurtured; it is moments and accomplishments like these that remind us that amidst our many constraints, amidst our limited resources and amidst the many challenges we face, we can still rise,” said Davis-Modeste to loud applause from the audience.
Toco Secondary School, she said, had, from its inception, provided a field of learning and different opportunities for pupils to participate in different sporting activities, which include football, track and field, netball, volleyball, table tennis and cricket.
She said the school faced many challenges in continuing to provide avenues for students to develop holistically.
“These challenges include the lack of proper training facilities and modern equipment, the enormous cost of transportation to access training and competition venues, the high cost of outfitting teams and inability to attract sufficient top-level coaches in all the sporting disciplines due to financial constraints,” she said.
Most of the problems, she said, were as a result of the school’s geographical location.
She said for the 2011/ 2012 academic year, the school incurred a transportation cost of TT$48,800 and a coaching cost of TT$88,090, amounting to approximately TT$136,890 to manage the sports programme.
“Many have questioned the large sums of money spent yearly on our sporting programmes, but today, Keshorn, you have justified our expenditure,” she said.
“If the school and, by extension, the athletes of Toco are to maintain sporting excellence at a national level, we look forward to our field being upgraded, to a Keshorn Walcott Stadium built in the community and the Ministry of Sport assuming the responsibility of paying coaches,” said Davis-Modeste.
“Without a doubt, Keshorn has made the country proud; he has made the country recognise what we have known for years that athletes of Toco are a force to be reckoned with. There is no school throughout Trinidad and Tobago whose sporting history, record and accomplishment can compare to ours,” she added.
