Minister visits Pt Fortin East Sec after protest

Teachers at the Point Fortin East Secondary School walked off the job on Tuesday afternoon citing deplorable teaching and working conditions.

Around 1 pm the teachers delivered a letter to the principal and exited the compound, which prompted action by Minister in the Ministry of Education Dr Lovell Francis to meet with the school’s officials.

Robertha St Hillaire, PTA president at the Point Fortin East Secondary School, said Dr Francis along with the principal, mayor, deputy mayor, councillor and TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) representatives met to iron out the situation.

She said, “Dr Francis assured us major work on the compound will begin in the coming week.

“Until then the school will function normally, but we (TTUTA) are unsure of what the teachers’ actions will be.”

Dr Francis said approval for the repairs at the school was given today Tuesday.

He said, “There was a tour of the school and a lot of work has to be done there. The discussions with the relevant parties were successful and the PTA was supportive.”

Earlier on Tuesday parents staged a protest demanding the Ministry of Education fix the school immediately.

The PTA and pupils said they would take the protest to Port of Spain if the ministry failed to address parents’ immediate concerns.

She said, “There is a list of works to be done but nothing is being done. We want to know why.”

St Hillaire said the school is almost 60 years old and is in desperate need of an infrastructural upgrade. Some of the issues identified by the PTA are damaged and missing ceiling tiles in classrooms; no extractor fans for fumes and smoke generated by the stoves in the home economics classrooms; and no extractor fans for the gas systems in the science labs.

On Monday a small fire broke out in the administrative block because of faulty electrical work, said Hillaire.

“This is a serious matter and could have been worse, especially if it occurred when no one was in office.”

On Tuesday morning, parents took to the street to protest deplorable school conditions which they said the ministry is aware of. The protest began about 7 am and St Hillaire said even the students gave up their class time because they are fed up of the situation they faced daily.

“We did not ask the students to come outside, but they did. They too are fed up of the conditions that they have to be in, which is not conducive to their learning.”

St Hillaire said an invitation was sent last Wednesday to the ministry to visit the school, but instead, she said, “We got an ear because the matter is now being highlighted in the media.”

She said, “After OSH conducted their report in 2019, almost 97 per cent of the school has to be fixed urgently.

“At the end of the day we want to meet with the authorities for better conditions for our children and to minimise disruption of their studies, because they cannot continue like this.”