Students make smooth return to school

THE first day of school after the Easter holiday break went smoothly for students yesterday, with no major hitches, according to the Ministry of Education’s Communications Specialist, Mervyn Critchlow. He said while all schools opened as scheduled, those attending the Arouca Anglican and Belmont Boys’ RC got extra days off,  and will return to classes later this week. The Arouca Anglican School did not reopen because of a recent fire at the school which damaged the roof and the toilet area.

Critchlow said the school is expected to reopen tomorrow as repairs were carried out on the roof, and arrangements were being made to place chemical toilets on the compound. Some of the Belmont Boys’ RC students, who have been relocated to several other institutions in the Belmont area as a result of the shutting down of their 100-year-old school last term, will return to classes today. The school building was deemed to be unsafe for habitation and was ordered closed by the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), after consultation with the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA).

The school will re-open today for Standard Four students, and classes will be held at the  St Francis Church annex. Students in Standards Two and Three will begin classes tomorrow at the St Martin RC School. All other students — infants, Standard One and those who have written the SEA exam — are to remain home until the ministry concludes arrangements for alternative accommodation. The school’s PTA and the ministry’s Educational Facilities Management Division agreed to the new arrangements at a meeting last weekend.