The speaker uses repetition throughout. The first two lines are in fact simply a repetition of the phrase "Dem tell me," an example of epizeuxis. This same phrase then is repeated as anaphora (with some slight variations) at the start of various lines throughout the entire poem. This accomplishes a few things. Most obviously, this implies the speaker's frustration with the British, and never lets the reader forget that the British colonizers are in control of the speaker's formal education. The repetition of the phrase "Dem tell me" almost makes the reader feel as if they are in school too, listening to a British teacher repeat things over and over again.
This notion of meaningless repetition is underscored by the circularity of the following phrase, created by its use of diacope:
Dem tell me
Wha dem want to tell me
The British are not really teaching the speaker anything, and the speaker is never given a chance to ask questions. Also note that the poem's first and final stanzas are almost exactly the same—except, of course, for the fact that the speaker follows the "Dem tell me" in the final stanza with a powerful declaration: "But now I checking out me own history / I carving out me identity." This change after so much repetition underscores the speaker's newfound defiance.
There's a different form of repetition in the poem too, which is tied to the names of the figures from Caribbean history whom the speaker mentions. "Toussaint" is named four times in the poem, and "Nanny de Maroon" twice. This underscores the importance of these figures to the speaker. Note how Toussaint's name is even turned into anaphora:
Toussaint de thorn
To de French
Toussaint de beacon
Of de Haitian Revolution
This figure is at once a pain the side of the French and a source of hope and inspiration to Haitian slaves and other oppressed peoples. The duality created by this use of anaphora highlights the subjective nature of historical narratives: were the French teaching the speaker's history class, they probably would not paint a very rosy picture of Toussaint L’Ouverture despite the fact that he was a hero to so many. This repetition is thus another subtle jab at the biased and blinding nature of colonial education.