Teachers protesting for the speedy re-opening of the Rousillac Hindu Primary School were locked out of their temporary accommodation yesterday.
According to reports, the group of teachers returned to the Rousillac Community Facility after protesting at the site of the incomplete school at Grant Trace, Rousillac, to find themselves locked out.
The gates, however, were re-opened an hour before a trio of school supervisors responded to the teachers’ complaints.
On September 30, parents, staff and students begun lobbying for a completion date for their new school from the Education Ministry.
The PTA has also decided to keep children away from classes.
Classes have been housed at the community centre for the last three years but teachers and students claim conditions are cramped and unsafe.
The school was destroyed by fire in 2002 and has been relocated at least twice.
The school’s principal, Ramdeo Mohan, confirmed the gates had been locked upon the teachers’ arrival. He said he cautioned the protestors while they had the right to protest, they were to do so peacefully.
According to Mohan, contractors have indicated they were awaiting the release of funds from the ministry before work could resume at the site.
Representative for the T&T Unified Teacher’s Association (TTUTA), Sintra Ramroop-Putkoo, assured that locked gates would not deter them from continuing to protest until the ministry or its officials provided them with a satisfactory answer.
Construction of the new school began under the previous administration and Mohan said they were given at least three different dates by then education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh.
TTUTA said it remained supportive of the PTA’s action and called on the ministry to provide alternative accommodations so that the education of its students were not interrupted.
Calls to the cellphones of Education Minister Anthony Garcia and chief education officer, Harrilal Seecharan, went unanswered.