We need your help at this school, PM

THE EDITOR: Open letter to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

Picture this: Working mom. Two kids. Same school. One starts 8 am. The other starts at noon. One ends at 2.30 pm. The other ends at 4.30 pm. How does a parent cope with this situation without both her and the children paying a high price?

This is a typical problem facing parents of the Princes Town Presbyterian 1 School. Over a year ago the school was declared unfit and demolished. Our children have to be accommodated in an ad-hoc shift arrangement at another school. Numerous attempts to get a commitment from your Government to rebuild the school have produced no concrete results.

I appeal to you, Mr Prime Minister, to consult the experts at the Ministry of Education for the answers to these questions:

What effect does it have on the psychological health and learning potential for young children who are forced to go to school from noon to 4.30 pm?

What are the effects of these irregular hours on sleep patterns and potential unsupervised time that the children will experience?

What are the consequences for the children’s social skills and physical development when they are not allowed sufficient time for recreation, extracurricular activities, lunch and “recess” breaks etc.

Will you allow your employee to reach late for work or leave two or three other times during the day to pick up and drop off her children to or from school? It is either that or a parent has to incur additional expense to provide private transportation. Or worse, risk the children’s well-being by having them stay in the care of friends, relatives or neighbours. Or quit her job.

Will you be pleased if you are a teacher at this school and you have to feel as if you are squatting? Do you think that these teachers can be on their A game under these conditions?

Do you think it is fair to one school to disrupt its entire operations to accommodate another school? This is what Presbyterian # 2 is going through.

Didn’t we abolish the shift system because it was not suited to effective learning? Why is that this school has to go back to the “stone age” shift system?

We are pleading with your Government to help us. Please make our lives normal; the parents, our precious teachers and most of all the future of our country … the children. It was your mentor, Dr Eric Williams, who said the immortal words, “The future of our nation lies in the school bags of our children.”

We need your help.

REHANA KHAN via e-mail