Scarborough Secondary forms 2, 3 rotate classes

CLASSES have resumed at the Scarborough Secondary School, but students in forms two and three will alternate days.

The school reopened its doors on Monday, having failed to open on September 5, the first day of the new school year.

A press release from the THA Division of Education, Research and Technology on Monday said form three students will go to school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Form two students will attend on Tuesday and Thursday. This is because of continued repairs next to a block at the southern end of the school compound.

A statement from the principal on Sunday said that this arrangement will last for two weeks. The principal warned that the form three classrooms and the auditorium will be out of bounds. Students are advised to follow the safety signs.

The division said updates to this temporary schedule will be communicated to parents and students through the principal.

It added that infrastructural repairs will only take place at the end of the school day and on weekends, to ensure the safety of students.

Last Monday, late school repairs saw two of Tobago’s 57 schools remain closed. The other was Speyside Secondary, which opened on September 6.

Education secretary Zorisha Hackett said repairs were classified as high, medium and low priority, and only high-priority repairs would affect the reopening of schools.

The Scarborough Secondary School has been in disrepair for some time. In 2019, students protested over the conditions and called for a new school to be built.

In an interview that year, the Prime Minister said the school needed to be relocated further inland because coastal erosion was threatening its foundations.

Then Education Secretary Kelvin Charles had previously said there were plans to build a new school and land had been identified. He did not say where, or whether the school would be renamed if or when it was relocated.

Hackett recently said the assembly is eyeing another site, as the previous one has some drainage challenges.