Schools join forces to protest

DESPITE the bad weather, students and their parents of the Princes Town Presbyterian Primary School No1 and No 2 joined in protest at Craignish Village early yesterday morning. Protesters braved the heavy rainfall, carrying umbrellas as they held placards expressing their disgust with the situation.

This being part of the ongoing protest action taken by Pres No 1 for the rebuilding of their school at Edward Street, Princes Town. While Pres No 1 has been protesting daily since the opening of the new school term on April 16, the parent-teachers association (PTA) of Pres No 2 joined them yesterday.

Parents called on Education Minister Anthony Garcia to keep his promise and rebuild the school. President of Pres No 1 PTA, Nola Ramjohn-Karim, said the 523 students have been attending Pres 2 at Craignish Village since 2015.

"The students of both schools are currently on a shift system and this is not working as they are not able to cover the entire curriculum for the term," Karim said. The minister, she added, promised to rebuild the school and, based on that promise, parents agreed to have their children go to Pres 2, with the belief that the shift system will be for a short period.

Desrie Duntin, president of the Pres No 2 PTA, said more than 1000 students are packed into a school that was built to accommodate 500.

"Students cannot get their education when they have to share a school like this," Duntin said, noting that the shift system sees parents and students coming up against each other as they change shifts. The traffic, she said, is outrageous and affects parents and teachers. Duntin said students are affected by the lack of recreational activities as there is no time or space available for any kind of games.

Karim said Garcia claims there is no funding to start work on the new school. “We are not accepting that when $29 million has been put towards building a facility in Moruga, and we see millions of dollars being spent every day on other projects.”

Garcia was asked to comment on the issue after a function at Naparima College in San Fernando yesterday. “As I have been saying over and over, it is their right to take action to secure the education of their children. I have absolutely no problem with the parents taking protest action.”

He said he is doing everything possible for the students to have access to an education and the shift system was introduced as an interim measure to ensure this.

“I can assure you this situation will not be for too long since we at the Ministry of Education had discussions with the Presbyterian board and we have certain plans in place.”