Cracked tiles, wood ants plague Scarborough Sec

Tobago Forwards Chairman Orwin Dillon, left, and Deputy Chairman Kevon McKenna at a media conference on Wednesday at the Scarborough Port.
Tobago Forwards Chairman Orwin Dillon, left, and Deputy Chairman Kevon McKenna at a media conference on Wednesday at the Scarborough Port.

Kevon McKenna, Deputy Chairman of the Tobago Forwards, is calling on Chief Secretary and Secretary of Education, Kelvin Charles, to address the worrying state of disrepair of the Scarborough Secondary School.

“At this point, Sir, I am begging you. Scarborough Secondary School is on a rift, the school has large cracks, the Home Economics room is full of wood ants, the tiles on the floor are rising up, the school’s auditorium, when it rains, half of the hall cannot be used, there are large cracks running across the centre of the hall,” said Mc Kenna, who is the coordinator of the school’s alumni. Speaking at a news conference at the Scarborough Port on Wednesday, he said a new wing of the school had to be demolished because of large cracks.

“They then broke down that building and they rebuilt a new building on the same spot. That building today has large cracks inside and outside. The building is unsafe, I am calling on the Chief Secretary, I am calling on parents to please, if your child tells you that they have to use that building, tell them to not go into that building, it is unsafe,” he said. McKenna identified other issues he said were plaguing the school.

“At Scarborough Secondary school, there is an issue where at present we have one computer to service over 50 teachers. Imagine at the end of the term when teachers have to put in marks, there is a line system - one computer to service 50 teachers.

“We also have for the Tech Voc subject areas, we have one computer servicing 18 students. Teachers have no proper equipment to carry out their job, no markers, the school has no photocopying machine since last year.

“I ask the Chief Secretary, how can the school function without the basic tools? The morale of the teachers is dropping. It means that the school will start to underperform based on them not having the required equipment,” he said.

McKenna said Scarborough Secondary needs to be relocated.

“At this time, we are pleading with the Chief Secretary, that within the next two to three months, show Scarborough Secondary that you care, show the teachers that you care, show the parents that you care, show Tobago that you care about the students at Scarborough Secondary School. Give them the land that was promised to them at Shirvan, let us start there. That is all we are asking, give us the land, let us start at that point, then we would negotiate in terms of how we should build the school and where we should start building,” he said.

Efforts to reach Charles for comment were unsuccessful as all calls to his mobile went unanswered.

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"Cracked tiles, wood ants plague Scarborough Sec"

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