Students of the Chaguanas Government Primary School, who have been out of classes for the last week, got a glimmer of hope on Wednesday after they got news that a contract to repair the school’s leaking sewer had been awarded to a contractor.
The school has been closed since last week Wednesday and its 888 students were sent home indefinitely because of problems resulting from the malfunctioning sewer system.
Upset parents staged a protest outside the Xavier Street School on Wednesday. They said the school term was critical for students doing the Continuous Assessment Component course work aspect for next year’s Secondary Entrance Assessment.
A ministry official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the T&T Guardian approval for the award of a contract for repair work to the sewer system had been granted.
“Works to address the situation will begin shortly. It will take about one week, depending on the weather, so there will be no need to relocate the students,” said the official.
Contacted for a response, president of the Chaguanas Government Primary’s Parent/Teacher’s Association (PTA), Lyndon Mohammed, said: “That is excellent news. They have heard us and have responded. The problem is getting the project started. If they start tomorrow (Thursday) they can finish by early next week.”
The Chaguanas PTA posted on its Facebook page that the school had confirmed the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) was given the green light to secure a contractor and go ahead with the project.
“We called the school and they told us the EFCL was given the go-ahead to find a contractor for the job,” Mohammed told the Guardian.
Parents, responding on Facebook, said they hoped their children would resume classes on Monday.
Others thanked the PTA for its prompt and decisive action, saying that had a big part to play in the project getting the green light.
Mohammed and some 60 parents staged a peaceful protest outside the school’s gate on Wednesday morning.
Their action came after they had met with the school’s acting principal, Melissa Mitchell, on Monday, over the closure of the school.
Students were sent home because of the stench from the overflowing sewer plant. Mohammed said Mitchell told parents on Monday the school remained closed until the problem could be rectified.
“We gave them until yesterday to fix the problem. We said if the school remained closed we will protest,” he added.
He said parents met the school’s gate closed yesterday and assembled outside in protest. He said the school’s vice-principal came out and told the parents that a Water and Sewerage Authority report on the sewer system was sent to EFCL, the state body in charge of the maintenance of sewer systems in schools.
The EFCL sent the report to the ministry and was awaiting a signing off, the vice-principal had said.