St Benedict’s College students still at home

YVONNE WEBB

ST Benedict’s College, which has been closed since Carnival Monday, failed to open yesterday as promised by Education Minister Anthony Garcia. When a question was posed to him in the Parliament, Garcia was on record as saying that the work on the sewer was scheduled for completion on March 1 and classes would have resumed on the Monday after.

Yesterday the 700 plus school population, with the exception of the forms five and six students, remained at home. The forms five and six students who will be writing CSEC and CAPE examination in the next few months, are being housed in the nearby parish hall at the St Benedict’s RC Church. However, there is also concern about the length of time they can stay there since the church does not possess the toilet capacity to house the boys indefinitely. Parents are upset that this is the fourth week their boys have been home. They said two weeks after the County Medical Officer of Health instructed that the school be closed until the sewer problem is rectified, the Education Facilities Company Ltd made a site visit to the school and only yesterday, a contractor reportedly came on the site.

An official from the Ministry of Education confirmed, “ a contractor is on the site and work is going ahead.”

The official could not say how long it would take to rectify the problem but estimated another week or so.

Parents said although some teachers have been posting work for their students on line, this is putting a financial and other strain on them as they now have to hire private tutors to keep the boys up to date with their work schedule and at times take them to work with them.