Dr Rita Pemberton

After emancipation, the freed Africans of Tobago were very aware that plantation labour on the island would restrict their ability to achieve the type of freedom they desired.

As a result, they sought alternative employment in the skilled trades and sent their children to the schools established by the various religious denominations on the island, with the hope that education would provide new avenues for employment and social upliftment.

The demand for alternative employment opportunities coalesced with the desire for education which was reflected in their participation in the social and intellectual movements which emerged during the early years of the 20th century, which prompted the formation of the Tobago District Teachers’ Association in 1935.

This organisation was formed after the 1922 attempt to form a branch of the Trinidad and Tobago Teachers’ Union on the island fizzled into nothing after a decade of unproductivity. Mr Earnest Lyons was the first president of the new association, with Mr John Donaldson as secretary. The pioneering members included Nydia Bruce, George Daniel, Lawrence Edwards, Lionel Mitchell and Harold Telemaque.

The aim of the organisation was to contribute to the development of Tobago, which was visualised as being accomplished through strengthening the teaching fraternity and agriculture. The association provided training facilities and increased opportunities for teachers to improve their qualifications.

It also sought to provide improved public access to education facilities on the island. Among its initial projects were a library which provided services to communities around the island and skills training for those interested through short courses in music.

It was felt that the island’s handicraft should be given a boost, and to that end a programme was launch, which led to a handicraft exhibition mounted in April 1938. Such was its success that it became a fixture on the island’s social calendar and stimulated handicraft production.

Next, from 1937, primary-school singing competitions, which were keenly contested, were organised. Mitchell and LA Peters, who composed music, were heavily involved in strengthening the music culture on the island.

The TDTA tackled the burning issue of the need for education reform through a Teachers Week and organised the first all-teachers’ conference in 1937, which became known as Teachers Get Together. This was the first organisation of its kind in the country, and it was of significance because it brought together teachers at both primary and secondary level. These events provided teachers with the opportunities to air their problems and discuss matters of importance on the island. The organisation and the Teachers Get Together, which have become integrated into TTUTA, exist up to the present day.

The TDTA established pupil-teacher training centres, where senior teachers tutored upcoming pupil teachers, and offered classes for teachers preparing for the Cambridge examination, in Scarborough and Roxborough.