Schools should be priority

THE EDITOR: It pains to see that, three weeks into the new school term, there are still schools that have been left in disrepair and ruin.

To make matters worse we hear the Education Minister state that over 50 per cent of school structures are old and in need of repairs. How can this be when clearly this administration is on a restoration drive. Restoring buildings to the cost of billions of dollars.

Up and down TT we see conservationists applauding this move. But what about the schools? Aren’t they of more importance to our national pride and our legacy as a country, as a people?

We are suffering from a rampant scourge of crime committed by mostly young people, some as young at 14 years. Many of whom cannot read or write. Doesn’t this upset anyone?

So many our children are falling through the cracks. Are we so short-sighted that we cannot see the peril to our future. If things are not addressed now in our education system? Are we so shallow in our thinking that we turn a blind eye to this?

Is it because we see one ethnic group predominantly involved in crime that we ignore this growing problem? Soon it will impossible to ignore as this epidemic will be nationwide and there will no longer be hot spots.

This Prime Minister has said his priorities are not ours. Clearly they are not. Billions are being spent on things that do not directly benefit the society. What are they saying to us, the “voter bank?” I dare say that we are not a priority.

K ALEXIS

Maraval