"They were serious. Deadly serious about the whole thing," remarked Eunice Jones, principal of Gilbert Institute about voters in the recent election of student officers at the school.

As a result of student and staff voting last Thursday, Tez Terry and Khilah Smith are Head Prefects and Chare Smith and Tabytha Hofheins are Deputy Head Prefects for the 2007-08 school year.

For two weeks, election fever infected the Primary School as candidates for the positions of Head Girl and Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl and Boy were contended by Primary 6 students in the class of Ethel Liverpool and her assistant Barbara-Ann Alleyne.

Prompted by the current talk of local Parliamentary elections, the P6 teachers felt that nothing beat personal experience as a learning tool, and decided to turn the annual selection of student officers into an exercise in Parliamentary democracy as part of the social studies programme. They were assisted in the process by Betty-Ann Rego.

All P6 students were eligible to stand, and once they had been appraised of the duties and responsibilities of the positions, were invited to put themselves forward for election. A total of 10 students did so, seven vying for the positions of Head Girl and Boy respectively, and two for Deputy Head Boy. Tabytha Hofheins ran unopposed for the position of Deputy Head Girl.

Their campaigns were conducted in an orderly fashion, with each delivering an election speech to the whole school assembly on Monday, October 15 and designing posters outlining their stand on issues, which went on display prior to the election.

On election day, as happens in Parliamentary elections, the school's assembly hall was converted into a polling station with scrutineers drawn from the P6 students, while Mrs. Liverpool and Mrs. Alleyne acted as returning officers.

Students and teachers entered the polling station in single file and submitted their identification to the scrutineers who crossed off their names on the voters' list. The voters were then directed to one of three booths where they filled in their ballots, and then placed them in the ballot box. Student voter Bianca Benevides noted: "I liked the process. It was like a real election."

All students from P3 up participated in the elections. Because the voting required the ability to read, the younger ones were not eligible to vote, but Mrs. Jones expressed her determination to find a way to include the non-literate in future elections.

The younger students were made aware of the process, however, and were walked through the polling station by their teachers, so that the whole student body was involved at some level.

Very pleased with the students' approach to the exercise, Mrs. Liverpool described the day as, "Wonderful, a good experience. I think this was a valuable learning experience for the students to engage in. Hands-on activities make learning more meaningful."

And the students? Mixed feelings, as one would expect, with some jubilant, and others coping with disappointment, but accepting the democratic process. One unsuccessful candidate, Shemar Rawlins, commented: "I was disappointed because I knew that I would have been a good Head Boy, but I am happy for Tez. The election process was so much fun, and it was exciting thinking about who was going to be elected."

Head Girl, Khilah Smith, described her feelings when Mrs. Jones announced the new appointments, stating, "As (Mrs. Jones) called out my name, my body froze with excitement. I was so glad that the student of Gilbert Institute voted for me as the Head Girl."

Newly-elected Head Boy, Tez Terry, promised, "I will continue to set a good example for my peers and the rest of the students in the lower grades."