Barry slams Garcia over Princes Town East Sec

Princes Town MP Barry Padarath in a statement yesterday hit Education Minister Anthony Garcia over the deplorable state of Princes Town East Secondary School that renders it unfit for pupils occupy. Padarath was angry and disheartenPRINCES Town MP Barry Padarath, in a statement yesterday, criticised Education Minister Anthony Garcia over the deplorable state of Princes Town East Secondary School which, he says, is unfit for use.

Padarath was angry and disheartened that his many complaints to the ministry over the past seven months had allegedly fallen on deaf ears. He said the electrical and airconditioning systems for the laboratories have stopped working and the general infrastructure in several blocks of the school was structurally unsound and unsafe.

Padarath agreed with TUTTA that the minister and Educational Facilities Company must accept responsibility for allowing the disintegration to the point where some pupils must now be relocated to nearby Princes Town West Secondary School.

He said last November he raised the case of the school in Parliament during question time, and alleged that Garcia said, after being asked three times, that the students were not earmarked for relocation, but promised to look into the situation urgently. Accusing Garcia of being asleep at the wheel, Padarath urged him to take a more hands-on approach to what was happening in schools, and not bury his head in the sand. He refused to accept any excuses that money is short, by saying the Government had found money for “vanity projects” such as the Tarouba Stadium.

Padarath also lamented problems facing three other schools in his constituency.

ed that his many complaints to the ministry over the past seven months had allegedly fallen on deaf ears, with faulty infrastructure (including the electrical and air-conditioning) meaning some pupils must be relocated to a nearby school.