Education Minister Anthony Garcia had promised all schools would be open on the first day, but yesterday the Princes Town East Secondary school remained open for all of two hours.
It was not long after parents dropped off their children at the school that they were called to pick them up because of a non-functioning air-conditioning system.
The school has been having ongoing problems with the system, which also caused it to be shut down for a month in 2014.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity yesterday, a parent said when they went to orientation at the school last Friday the air-conditioning system was also not working.
"There was no AC in the classroom on Friday and in the whole school. It was very hot. The windows could open but no air was coming in because of how the school was built.
"We did a walk through (the school) and it was extremely hot. It was unbearable. The orientation did not last longer than an hour. But I thought this problem would be been rectified for school today (yesterday)."
She said she still dropped her son off yesterday thinking that there would be no problems.
"Around 9.30 am or 10 am my son called me and told me I would have to come to pick him up," said the parent.
When she inquired when the problem will be fixed and whether to send her child to school today, she did not get any answers.
"On Friday we saw a whole set of wires bulging out the wall and not secured. It seems as though there is a lot of repairs still to be done at the school," said the mother, adding she was disappointed the necessary repairs were not done before school opened.
Contacted Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) president Lynsley Doodhai said they were extremely disappointed the classes were dismissed.
"Since last week the association was aware that the air-conditioning system was not operational and we drew this attention of the Ministry of Education in a meeting last Friday. Nothing was done over the weekend to rectify this problem."
He said TTUTA has advised the teachers not to report to school if the system is not working. Lamenting that the problem has been going on for years, he called on the ministry to rectify the problem so the teaching and learning process will not be further comprised.
Attempts to reach the ministry's corporate communications officers for a comment yesterday were unsuccessful.