Parents, students in South school protest

Public health officers from the ministry’s San Fernando offices found snakes, centipedes and scorpions in the school building.

Under a scorching mid-morning sun yesterday, more than 40 disgruntled parents, accompanied by the students, staged a noisy placard demonstration in front of the school. They said they were tired of "promises" from the Education Ministry. Led by the school’s Parents Teachers’ Association’s president, Franklin Kissoon, the teachers and parents held up placards which conveyed a resounding message that the building was 65 years old and its roof was supported by a single angle-iron. The galvanise roof also bore many gaping holes.

"When the rain falls, teachers and students have to use umbrellas to avoid getting wet," Kissoon said. He said the school’s flooring was also littered with holes through which insects and other vermin crawl into classrooms. Kissoon recalled a horrifying incident on Mother’s Day. "The school had a Mother’s Day concert and when the children were on stage," Kissoon said, "a large centipede crawled out from the floor and went on stage."

The school had 200 pupils on its roll, but about 90 of them have recently been relocated by their parents to other schools in the district. "We are tired of the promises by the Ministry of Education. Every month is a new promise. The children were supposed to have been moved to the Princes Town Presbyterian School Number Two last year August," Kissoon said.

Kissoon said the protest action would continue this morning. He vowed that parents would not be sending their children to the school.

Communication specialist in the Ministry of Education, Mervyn Critchlow, said the ministry is aware of the situation and will issue a full statement on the matter.