Sewer problems shuts down Moruga school

SINCE school re-opened five weeks ago, only infants and standard five pupils of the St Mary's Village Primary School, Moruga, have been attending classes. The school has a population of 585 pupils.

This morning, parents continued protests in front the school building, together with some of the pupils dressed in their uniform and holding up placards. The school has been partially shut down due to a sewer problem.

Vice president of the school's Parents' Teachers' Association, Karlene Gopaul-Ali, told the Newsday the school employs what she described as a "desal system of treating waste and for the past year, there has been a back-up."

Saying only one toilet has been functioning, Gopaul-Ali told Newsday only two classes can be housed in the school's building. The rest of the children have been home. Teachers and the principal arrive at the school each day but the gates are kept locked. It was at about 7.45 am today when parents and children gathered at the gates and staged a demonstration.

At about mid-morning sewer trucks from the Water and Sewerage Authority pulled alongside the school building. Gopaul-Ali told Newsday that workmen tried to empty the sewer, but said they will have to return in December to conduct more work.

As a result, she said, there is no guarantee when classes, for all the pupils, will resume.