January 18, 2018
In his capacity as Minister of Education, the Honourable Anthony Garcia took the opportunity to share some knowledge with School Supervisors, Principals and students on protocol etiquette at the recently held launch of the Carnival Safety and Awareness Programme. The words of the Minister have now been taken and placed in an entirely different context and was placed in a newspaper article with the headline “Garcia boufs Lovell”. Understanding the importance of respect and integrity the Ministry of Education seeks to clarify the statement made by the Minister and to give context to the general public.
At the beginning of his address at the launch the Minister stated “On occasions like these it is important to recognise certain persons in the audience. Very often some people, like Dr. Francis said earlier, find that it can be boring and burdensome and what has crept into our vocabulary now is to come up to the podium and say “All protocols observed”. I must say from my purview that that is not the wrong (right) way to proceed. I think it would be right for me in my capacity as Minister of Education to impart some knowledge. What is more acceptable to say is “The protocol listing already being established, I beg to move on”
This, Minister Garcia saw as necessary as preceding him one of the students who performed an entertainment item opened by saying “All protocols observed.” The Minister’s teachable moment was directed to that student and by extension members of the audience who were mainly educators with the ability to share the same with their charges.
The Ministry of Education urges members of the media to practice responsible journalism and to keep the public informed with factual information and not misleading headlines.