Shortly after school was dismissed at a primary school in Siparia on Monday, a fire gutted the Standard Five classrooms.
No one was injured. However, the school, Siparia Union Presbyterian Primary has been closed until further notice. The incident has triggered concerns by the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) and parents on whether the school is safe for occupation.
Parent Teachers Association's president (PTA) Reard Niamath said around 3.10 pm fire broke out on the upper floor of a building which houses three Standard Five classrooms. The principal's office is on the lower floor.
"Fortunately, no children were in the building at that point in time as school was dismissed at 3 pm."
The fire service was able to prevent the blaze from engulfing the entire building. Niamath said the cause of the fire is still to be ascertained, but only last year parents protested over the electrical and infrastructural integrity of the building. He said parents decided to send their children back to school after the ministry did some repairs and electrical upgrade.
"School also resumed on the promise that phase one of the new school building will be resumed, but that has not happened. At the annex building on the first week of school, we had electrical problems. T&TEC came and did repairs to the main line coming into the building. But, we are now questioning the credibility of the electricity at the school, although we don't know if the fire was caused by an electrical problem."
TTUTA's president Lynsley Doodhai said the top floor was gutted while the lower floor sustained water damage.
Doodhai said, "This school has a history of electrical problems, just one year ago the school was closed. Before the blaze, the lights were flickering."
He said construction of a new school building on that same site began in May 2014 and was supposed to have been done in three phases. He said the first phase was 95 per cent completed when worked stopped in September because the contractor was not paid.
"What happened is very frightening, but is a stark reality of what is happening at our nation schools. I hope the ministry does not wait for serious injury or for a life to be lost due to its negligence before safe and proper environment for students and teachers."
He said the school has a student population of 375 and about 15 teachers. Given that education received the largest budgetary allocation, Doodhai was hopeful that they use some of that funding to recommence construction and repair works at all schools.
Ministry officials visited the site and are awaiting a report from the Fire Services before any decision could be taken.