Protesting parents of students attending the Siparia Union Presbyterian School, who have been waiting for more than two years for completion of their new school, are being asked to stand down and have patience.
The plea came from the Minister in the Ministry of Education, Dr Lovell Francis, who assured that completion of the new school building, which is 90 per cent complete, remains one of the ministry’s top priorities.
Francis said the ministry was dealing with an issue which has hindered the completion of the structure. However, he did not want to give any details.
“There are some confidential issues that the office of the Attorney General is dealing with. There is an issue that I cannot talk about in public. Our plan is to finish the new school. That is a top priority,” Francis said. Asked whether payment to the contractor was one of the issues, Francis said yesterday.
A source said the contractor Construction Services and Supplies Limited is owed over $10 million by the Government. However construction was halted because the Government failed to pay the contractor for works already completed. A meeting was held yesterday between company officials and the ministry and it was agreed that once a payment is made, construction will continue.
In an interview yesterday, president of the school’s PTA Reard Niamath said they were tired of waiting. For a third consecutive day, over 80 parents staged protests at High Street, Siparia.
He said it was nonsensical that the Government was continuing to spend money to fix a temporary structure when the monies could go towards finishing the new school.
Niamath said since 2016 they have been protesting for the school’s completion and they were assured by Francis that it will be completed by January this year.
“It is almost a year that we waiting. We will escalate protests if they do not complete the school,” Niamath explained.
He added that some parents were now thinking about boycotting the Secondary Entrance Assessment exams.
“Our Standard Five pupils have already lost three weeks of school when they were in Standard Four and one month in Standard Five. Some parents are looking to transfer their children and others are sending them to extra lessons,” Niamath added.
He said the parents will mount more protests today.
A source at the Presbyterian Board said following discussions it was agreed that three Standard Five classes and one Standard Four class will be accommodated at the Iere High School while one Standard Four class will be housed at the Siparia Hindu Primary.
The other Standard Four class will be housed at the Siparia Road Presbyterian School. However there have been no accommodation for other classes.
The children were displaced after an electrical fire destroyed parts of the temporary school structure last month. The temporary facilities have not met proper safety standards and parents said despite repeated appeals to the ministry, construction of their new school has not resumed.