Angry and frustrated parents whose children attend the Santa Flora Government Primary School took to St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain yesterday, protesting deplorable conditions.
And they have given the Ministry of Education one week to fix the problems otherwise promised to intensify their actions.
They said because of a directive given the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) the school has been shut down for the past three weeks, grossly affecting the Standard Five classes which are preparing for the SEA exam to be held next year. The parents also chastised Energy Minister and MP for the area Nicole Olivierre for what they claimed was lack of representation.
They said despite repeated letters written to her, there was no response.
“She has never communicated to the PTA and that is the problem we have in this country right through. After we have elected persons and put them in power they tend to believe they are anointed and therefore as time goes on we will definitely make changes to that.
“The communication and the bureaucracy, we not interested in that, we want our children back in school as soon as possible,” parent Victor Roberts said, adding some 240 pupils were affected.
Security was another factor affecting pupils since the bathrooms were some distance away from the classrooms, vice president of the PTA Francis Revello said. He said the main problem with the school was that the columns holding the building were split down at the centre, exposing steel rods.
“OSHA has shut down the entire building for the past three weeks. They also closed down the staff room and the library. The teachers now have to use the same toilet facilities the children use and at any given day there are about 370 people there and only three toilets to service everybody.
“When a child has to use the toilet, the child has to be escorted because of the distance the toilet is away from the school building,” Revello said.
As the group chanted outside the Education Ministry’s office on St Vincent Street in Port-of-Spain yesterday, Education Minister Anthony Garcia and Minister of State in the Ministry of Education Dr Lovell Francis left their offices and spoke to parents.
Garcia expressed concern that the children were at home for so long, saying one day away from school was one day too long. But even after the assurances given by Garcia and Lovell that the matter would be rectified, parents said if after a week and nothing was done to rectify the situation then they would continue their protest.
Garcia said he would also get in touch with the Education Facilities Company Limited (EFCL) to decipher the problem.
“We are not totally satisfied by what the minister said until we see something is happening,” Revello said.
He said the PTA also wrote to president Anthony Carmona since he had attended the school.
“He was the only one we got a response from and he said he was willing to meet with us and he has given us a date and time,” Revello added.