Board acquiring land for Longdenville Presbyterian Primary

The Presbyterian Primary School Board of Education says it is in the final stages of acquiring a piece of land to build a school for students of the Longdenville Presbyterian Primary School.

The board’s chairman Vickram Ramlal told Newsday it was aware of the parents' concerns and was in discussions with the Commissioner of State Lands.

After 20 years without a school building, he said, the board was quite aware of the concerns, frustration, stress and anger expressed by the parents for a building.

The school building, which was annexed to the church, has been condemned. The students were then housed at the nearby Longdenville Government Primary School and the Jerningham Community Centre in Cunupia.

As the Longdenville Government Primary School’s student intake grew, the Presbyterian students were moved to the community centre.

Last Friday parents protested in front of the Jerningham Community Centre over the lack of a school building and poor infrastructure at the current site.

Secretary of the PTA Karen Clement said there were about 101 students, teachers, and auxiliary staff at the community centre.

Ramlal said, “It is our hope that this will be finalised shortly, and the Ministry of Education will then allocate funds to commence construction.

“The board is in discussion with the ministry at present to alleviate some of the infrastructure problems at the Jerningham Community Centre and to make it a more conducive learning environment.”

Ramlal added the board was also working on getting the ministry to provide transport for the students and improve security at the school, but no definite timeline was given on when this could come into effect.

Ramlal said the board had tried to find a piece of land near the church on the Longdenville Main Road.

“Unfortunately, no such site was located in close proximity to the old site. Upon a request from the Presbyterian Church in 2012 the Government allocated and Cabinet approved a site in Cashew Gardens,” he said.