For the second day running, angry parents of pupils attending the Rousillac Hindu Primary School yesterday protested against the non-completion of their new school, this time forming a human blockade across the Southern Main Road.
Traffic was backed up for miles as protesters crowded the main road near the Happy Hill Recreation Ground, where their children sat in the pavilion for most of the morning.
For over three years the pupils and teachers have been housed at the neighbouring Rousillac Community Centre while their original school at Grant Trace was being rebuilt.
However, Angela Sahibram said the two toilets at the centre were not functioning and the smell emanating from the sewerage tank was making pupils ill. She said teachers did not even have storage for their books.
Parents were adamant yesterday that Education Minister Anthony Garcia tell them when their children would sit in a new school, chanting: “We want we school right now, we need to see Garcia right now.”
Parent Teachers Association president Tony Sahibram said pupils had been waiting for their new school for the past three years and under former education minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh, a commitment was given to have it ready by January 2016. However, he said, worked stalled a few weeks ago as the contractors revealed that payments from the ministry had stopped.
He said last year parents approached People’s National Movement (PNM) representatives for help in getting their school ready, as it fell within the La Brea constituency. He said they were told that because the party was in Opposition the situation was “ticklish.”
“Now that they are in power we want to know what is going on now,” Sahibram said.
He added, “Before June, the school was in contact with Dr Tim Gopeesingh and they assured us that it would be finished by January 2016. The school was on stream to be completed but the contractor said he has stopped receiving money.
“The contractor had covered the building over the holidays and had finished plastering the walls so it was ready for painting. For some reason or the other no money was coming. Similar protests took place at the Cap-de-Ville and Sangre Grande schools and they got answers on the same day. We are in La Brea, we are in a PNM constituency.”
When contacted yesterday, ministry representatives said Garcia was in a meeting.
The T&T Guardian learned, however, that there have been problems with regard to payments at the ministry but the school was still expected to be completed by January.