Move us from tents and containers

STUDENTS of the Toco Secondary School, their parents and their teachers are calling on the government to build them a new school. Hoping to get the attention of the Minister of Education, members of the PTA protested in front the Parliament on Wrightson Road on Friday morning.

PTA president Antonio Joseph told Newsday the students are housed under tents and in two containers on the school compound, as most of the building is unsafe for classes to be held there.

“Toco people are quiet people. We are not fussy, but we took too much for too long.”

He said the school has been closed for almost a month and students are complaining that this will affect their performance in their exams.

Joseph said this is not the first time the PTA has made a call to the government. In 2017 there was a small protest outside the school building which is over 50 years old.

He said when classes were shifted to the tents and containers, electrical work was done to facilitate the move. But the circuit was overloaded and the main wire was burnt resulting in the school being shut down.

Joseph said TTEC repaired the wires and are working on getting a separate connection for the tent. He said a prefabricated building was promised to the school within a few months.

“It was only because the minister intervened yesterday that's why they came to survey the place.”

He said he is hoping the school would be reopened on Monday.

Joseph also called on Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan to provide proper transport services in the area for students. He said taxi drivers have discontinued their service because it “wasn’t beneficial to work in the Toco to Sangre Grande area.”

“Right now in a school of 426 students, 225 of them access the transportation system to get to school. Some of them are dropped halfway and have to walk about a mile to get to the school. Many of them walk to school.”

Joseph said the area feels neglected and promises more protest if a temporary solution is not forthcoming.

Calls to Education Minister Anthony Garcia and minister in the Education Ministry Dr Lovell Francis went unanswered.