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Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has called for steel­pan in­struc­tion to be made avail­able in every school in T&T, de­scrib­ing the in­stru­ment as “a pow­er­ful sym­bol of iden­ti­ty, uni­ty and cre­ativ­i­ty” that should be part of every child’s ed­u­ca­tion.

Beck­les made the com­ment via a re­lease yes­ter­day, ahead of to­day’s sec­ond an­niver­sary of World Steel­pan Day. She said the move would pre­serve the na­tion’s cul­tur­al her­itage and in­spire a new gen­er­a­tion of pan­nists, in­no­va­tors and cul­tur­al am­bas­sadors.

“The steel­pan is more than mu­sic—it is the liv­ing heart­beat of our his­to­ry,” she said, re­call­ing its ori­gins in the hills of Laven­tille and its jour­ney from be­ing crim­i­nalised to be­ing cel­e­brat­ed on stages around the world, cul­mi­nat­ing in the Unit­ed Na­tions’ 2023 recog­ni­tion of it.