Students too scared to sing after Beetham protest

The students of Gloster Lodge Moravian lifted their voices lustily yesterday, despite not being able to share the stage with Laventille Girls’ Primary School. The students sang Christmas carols as part of the Laventille/Morvant Schools Improvement Project’s Christmas activities. They performed in front of the Ministry of Education, Education Towers, St Vincent Street, Port of Spain.

But students from Laventille Girls’ Primary were unable to perform at the lunchtime concert because they were traumatised after the violent protest by some residents of Beetham Gardens on Thursday. Dr Thora Best, the project co-ordinator, told Newsday the students did not even attend school yesterday.

“It seems deviants lit fires on Old St Joseph Road in front of their school and we had to call the IATF (Inter-agency Task Force) officers who escorted the teachers and the children off the compound,” Best said. “In the case of two children, they (the police) even had to take them home because there was nobody to come to take them.”

Best said every week, two or three of the 25 schools in the programme will perform in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The Gloster school performed for an hour, from 11.30 am to 12.30 pm. When Education Minister Anthony Garcia appeared, he was presented with the students’ Cards and Dollars for Dominica.

Best said Cards and Dollars was another initiative under the programme in which the children of Laventille were able to contribute to the children of Dominica who were affected by Hurricane Maria. They donated out of their spending money and also gave stuffed toys.

Garcia told the audience the Laventille/Morvant initiative was built on four major pillars; parental involvement, discipline, curriculum development and infrastructural development. “But most importantly today, I want to thank our children who are providing us with beautiful music.