Give us hope for Scarborough Sec

AS MOST schools reopened for the new term this week, one of the country’s oldest remained shuttered.

The Scarborough Secondary School stayed closed on Tuesday to facilitate what has been described as repair works. The nature of these works has not been detailed, but it is understood a beam in the auditorium is being replaced.

Whatever the finer details, it is all par for the course in relation to the long and troubled history of the premises.

Last September, at the very start of the school year, the school also did not open on time for the commencement of the term.

First opened in 1961, it has been in despair for some time.

In 2019, students protested conditions on the premises and called for a new school.

So bad has the situation been that the matter has even come to the attention of the Prime Minister, who has said the building needs to be relocated further inland because coastal erosion was threatening its foundations.

To date, however, no concrete plans have been spelled out, despite the earmarking of a new location in Bacolet as well as previous announcements under successive Tobago House of Assembly (THA) administrations of $200 million in funding.

Stakeholders who attended a meeting on Tuesday chaired by THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine and including Education Secretary Zorisha Hackett and Assistant Secretary Orlando Kerr came away disappointed given the prospect of further delays.

“The design for the school hasn’t started,” said TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Tobago Officer Bradon Roberts. “They created a team today to work on that.”

Last September, a THA official had promised a design would be rolled out soon. But key surveys are yet to be done.

In 2020, then Secretary of Finance and the Economy Joel Jack said a geotechnical survey would be done, but the site then earmarked has now apparently changed.

Meanwhile, with the prospect of an overall project period of three to four years looming, students face unsatisfactory – if not downright unsafe – conditions.

The premises lack functioning fire extinguishers, according to Mr Roberts, even though the building has a history of fires.

Last year, students of forms two and three were made to rotate classrooms.

Such reports paint a sad picture for a school whose glory days saw it nurture figures like Dwight Yorke, Akeem Stewart, Renny Quow and even politicians like Dr Delmon Baker and Shamfa Cudjoe.

We appreciate the environmental and social factors that make relocation a complex matter. But there is an urgent need for a temporary diversion of the students, better accountability in terms of money being spent on “repairs” and for this project not to be dragged out any further.

As such, it is our hope this week’s THA meeting was more than just a political exercise.