Minister: Repairs to begin on washrooms at Mt Hope school

MINISTER of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly says a contractor has been engaged to begin some of the repairs needed at the Mt Hope Secondary School.

Parents, teachers and students of the school have been up in arms over its dilapidated condition since the beginning of the academic year on September 2, with many parents expressing concern for the safety of their children. Videos showing the poor condition of the school, including broken furniture and windows, dirty classrooms and insecure railings, have been widely circulated on social media over the last two weeks.

Many parents have opted to keep their children away from the school and have called for the Ministry of Education to relocate its students until the repairs have been completed.

When Newsday visited the school on September 12, a frustrated parent had this to say to the ministry, “Get your act together and see about the children.

“If it was some other, prestigious school, something would have been done already."

He said in the three years that his child has been a student, there had been no improvement in the condition of the school.

Another complained about the faulty toilets and called for the school to be upgraded.

“The state of the school is not suitable for children. I have a girl and the toilets are not working, it is leaking and the doors cannot close.

"When rain falls it is flooding. Children are hopping around and they could slip and fall.

"Electrical wires are exposed, they can get shocked.

“There is a lot to be done at the school. I was a past pupil here and now I am 37 years old, and nothing has been done or upgraded. No paint or nothing. It’s the same thing and a little worse."

Additionally, the Occupational Safety and Health Agency has cordoned off part of the school where the staircase has rotted away, according to the one of the parents.

Contacted for an update on the school's repairs on September 12, Gadsby-Dolly had said via WhatsApp, "Extensive refurbishment works were approved for Mt Hope Secondary earlier this year. A contractor is currently being procured by the Maintenance and Training Security Company to implement these (repairs).”

Contacted again on September 13, Gadsby-Dolly said a contractor had been selected and will “undertake the works to the washrooms, sanitary fittings and partitions.”

She said contracts for the electrical upgrades needed by the school are still in the tendering stage.

In relation to the washroom repairs, Newsday asked the minister for the identity of the contractor; the contract’s value; when the repairs will begin and end; the expected cost for the all repairs; and whether there were plans to temporarily relocate students and staff while the work was being done, but but received no response by press time on September 13.

(With reporting by Kristen-Le Chelle Winchester)