Debe is well known as an agricultural village and home of the best tasting East Indian delicacies in the country. This rural image, however, will soon undergo massive overhaul as the government moves to transform the district into the epicentre of southern academia. The vibrant Southern community, which has experienced a commercial boom in recent years with an increase in small businesses, is now on the fast track to growth and development with the planned construction of the South campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI). “Now Debe will be plenty more than doubles,” declared 67-year-old resident, Bharath Ragoo, who is proud that his hometown will become south Trinidad’s centre of higher learning. Last March, President George Maxwell Richards, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, UWI Chancellor Sir George Alleyne and principal of the St Augustine campus Professor Clement Sankat were on hand for the unveiling of a plaque representing the handing over of lands for the campus.
Minister of Science Technology and Tertiary Education Fazal Karim said 100 acres of Caroni (1975) Ltd land had been approved for the campus, which would be located north of the Debe Secondary School. Representative for the area, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal, told the T&T Guardian that Debe was selected because of the passion residents had shown over the years to lead the nation in all aspects of development. Construction of the UWI South campus, he said, was a significant step in the growth of the district.
“It is a complete industrial development of Debe and it is part of our thrust to upgrade, not only part of our education and skills set in the national community, but also to ensure that we diversify in the direction of education and education infrastructure,” Moonilal said. He believes the campus, which is in the design stage, will be a source of pride for all citizens of South Trinidad. “I think there is a lot of collaboration going on with the university community and among Cabinet members to ensure we have a world-class facility at Debe,” he said. “This, we believe, will lead to an expansion of Debe and Penal as a growth pole in Trinidad and Tobago.” Historically, Moonilal said, Debe/Penal’s image had been of “cuisine...of doubles and alloo pie.
“But as I have said before, we have to move to another frontier of education, of technology and of sports,” he said. While Debe has experienced commercial growth, with an increase in shopping malls and businesses, the community has not completely shed its rustic roots. Agriculture production is not on the same scale as it was in the 1980s, but fresh produce remains an integral part of community life. Debe is still an area where villagers travel by bicycle to the wholesale market and vendors cut up and prepare green mangoes for sale at the roadside.
Residents welcome plans for the campus which they see as representing further opportunities for growth in the once rural community. Rosemary Hassanali, owner and manager of the popular Hassanali’s Doubles, said: “Debe has grown and has changed a lot, in a better way...It is more modernised. “We feel very good about the UWI campus coming here and it will be very good for business as well,” she added. Vegetable vendor Gopaul Basdeo, 42, believes construction of the institution will shatter historical stereotypes associated with the village.
a“This will definitely break the stigma that Debe is a rural community...Now people will be looking up to it,” he said. “Debe, as a community has grown a lot from the past and with the campus coming, it will be developing more and more so that will be good. “It will help the community and South, in general, because we have been neglected for so many years.” Basdeo, who has been selling produce at Debe Junction for the past 26 years, said he had seen his community grow into a commercial hub and now the campus “will enhance the Debe community.” According to local historian Louis B Homer, Debe was “the food basket of South Trinidad.”
The village was named after an estate in the area, he said, and in the early days, the mode of transport was by train. There were quite a few train stops along the way, which facilitated vending on both sides of the road. “In the old days people would be selling vegetables straight up to Penal...When people stopped to buy vegetables, they would look for something to nibble and that brought about the development of doubles and so on in the area,” Homer said.
Debe’s development continued and in 2001, the community became the home to two secondary schools, Parvati Girls’ and Debe Secondary School, formerly Debe High. Parvati Girls’ principal Ann Marie Tewari said that apart from the economic benefits, the campus would give many of her students an opportunity to pursue their dreams. “My girls are from semi-rural areas...We encourage them to dream and encourage them to plan their future,” she said.
“With their family situation, some of them would have never been allowed to go to university if they had to go to Port-of-Spain or St Augustine or even abroad, so that proximity will help my young ladies in terms of letting their dreams become more of a reality.” The school, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, has already started academic preparations for the South campus by offering A-Level courses. Debe Secondary School principal Romeo Gunness said the South campus had a two-fold advantage for the community.
“You associate a certain type of personality when you come from Debe, but it (the South campus) has now revolutionised that,” he said. “Now when you come from Debe, you are on par with rest of the country. “As a community, I see Debe moving forward with a lot of growth in terms of investment and in terms of people’s own perception of themselves as a community. “You are no longer rural and remote, you are accessible and you can access everything else.” The advantage for Debe Secondary students, he said, was limitless as the south campus would be located next to the school.
At the school, Gunness said, they had a saying:
“When you enter the front gate at Debe Secondary, you leave with a certificate and when you leave through the back gate, you leave with a degree because it (the campus) is literally at the back gate.”
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment