Deadly lessons

It was a year of children protesting for new schools and many parents keeping their children away from classes after panic broke out because of suspected swine flu cases.

Many thought it was a year for the Education Ministry to do more as part of their “seamless education system.”

But despite the criticism, the ministry was able to work with education stakeholders to repair and construct new schools, among other initiatives.

Repairs to the infrastructure of some 600 schools were completed before the new school year began in September, making it perhaps the first time most schools opened on time.

For Education Minister Esther Le Gendre 2009 was a very good year for the ministry.

She said advancement was made in all strategic priorities in terms of focusing on schools and significant strides were made in teachers’ professional development.

Le Gendre said there was also improved student performance at exams and the ministry underwent a transformation with services being centralised. Le Gendre hopes it will be smooth sailing in 2010.

SCHOOL VIOLENCE

Violence in schools was predominant in 2009. Several students fell victims to bullies and some were badly beaten and robbed. The violent attacks also resulted in three murders of teenagers. Their perpetrators? Also teenagers.

Those who lost their lives were Darrion Callendar-Duncan, 15, a Form Three student of the Carapichaima East Secondary School; Malik Hillaire, 13, of Locust Hill, Malick, Barataria — a Form One student of the Barataria South Secondary School and Form Four student of the St Augustine Comprehensive Secondary School, Dillon Griffith, 18.

Callendar-Duncan, 15, was stabbed to death after an Intercol football match at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella on October 23.

Hillaire was fatally stabbed by another student who attends the Malick Secondary School, a short distance from his home on November 20.

Three days later, another schoolboy, Griffith was fatally stabbed with a 12-foot dagger.

Two students of the St Joseph College, in St Joseph, were subsequently arrested and are currently before a Tunapuna magistrate.

On May 22, 2009, Brandon Gopaul, 16, a student of Marabella Secondary School was attacked by another student and robbed of $15.

He was in the cafeteria when he was approached by another student who demanded money from him. Gopaul refused but the student held him by the shoulders and pushed him into a nearby classroom. Gopaul was subsequently beaten and robbed.

On October 2, Keegan Hunte, a Form Two student of the Mucurapo Secondary School, was badly beaten and had one of his ankles broken by four of his schoolmates.

He is currently out of school and is at home recuperating, only being able to move around with the assistance of a pair of crutches.

In a similar case, Marc Hodge, of Arouca, who was a student of the Mount Hope Junior Secondary and now, the Mount Hope Secondary, was robbed twice. In a third attempt, he was threatened to be shot in the head if he returned to school the following day.

Hodge wrote the 14 Plus examinations, in 2009, and was subsequently assigned to the Malick Senior Comprehensive School. He has, however, since stayed away from school for fear that he will be attacked again. Also last year, 32 Form Five students of St Joseph’s College, St Joseph, were ordered by policemen to strip to their underwear as the officers carried out a search for $1,400 reportedly stolen from the school bag of another student.

This angered parents who demanded a full-scale probe into the police’s action.

President of the National Parent Teachers Association (NPTA) Zena Ramatali also joined the call for an investigation.

As the year drew to a close, school children were back in the news when on November 17, students of El Dorado West Secondary and El Dorado East Secondary School clashed.

Security at both schools had to be increased and the Education Ministry took a decision to stagger the school hours of schools along the East/West Corridor to prevent what Minister Esther Le Gendre said was the congregation of thousands of school children after hours on the streets.

A decision has also been taken to resume the school bus service which is expected to begin, this month.

The clash at the schools in El Dorado also led to an intervention by the Education Ministry which held a “Let’s Talk it Out” session on December 10.

The event drew students from seven secondary schools along the East/West Corridor, who were allowed to express their concerns about the violence in their respective schools.

In a surprising turn, students of St Joseph College apologised to their colleagues from the St Augustine Secondary School for Dillon Griffith’s murder and Rondelle Keller, president of the El Dorado East Secondary student council presented Afiya Adams, a student of El Dorado West Secondary, with a book as a peace offering.

Teachers also voiced their concerns over the violence in schools and at the Barataria North Secondary Schools they stayed away from classes until school administrators dealt with the constant attack on teachers.

Also, the principal of the Siparia Union Presbyterian Primary School was also forced to lock the school compound and call in the police after 12 schoolboys ransacked a classroom, stole money from several book bags and scattered food all over the desks and floor.

PROTESTS

Last year began with a shaky start for schools as students and their parents protested what they said were the poor learning conditions and teachers’ absenteeism at several schools.

Several of the protests were for similar reasons such as lack of maintenance and repairs, sewer problems and unsanitary conditions.

Students and teachers from schools such as Febeau Government Primary, Guapo Government Primary, Rousillac Presbyterian Primary, Hermitage Village Presbyterian Primary, Four Roads Government Primary, Penal Rock Road Hindu Primary and Aranguez North Secondary School all abandoned classes to get the authorities’ attention.

And while many returned to school without a hitch, students attending Febeau Government Primary School met open holes filled with dirty water and mosquitoes, mud and galvanised sheets on the northern side of the school compound.

Their parents refused to send their children to school until the problem was resolved, which took place a few days later.

Teachers at the Aranguez North Secondary School also walked off the job vowing not to return to school until the Education Ministry maintained the school compound and installed air- conditioning units at Block B of the building.

They also asked that the ministry erect screens to protect students from dust from a neighbouring construction site. Parents also kept the protests up by keeping their children away from classes for more than two weeks at the Guapo Government Primary School as they demanded a new school over fears of the structural integrity of the school building.

Students at the Hermitage Village Presbyterian School engaged in noisy protests as they called for the Presbyterian School board to provide them with more teachers.

The shortage of seven teachers also caused problems at the San Juan Presbyterian School.

In March, protest continued as parents, teachers and students of the Rousillac Presbyterian School demanded a new school.

The students were forced to attend classes at the nearby Rousillac Community Centre for almost four years.

Eventually, a pre-fabricated building was constructed on the school’s compound at the cost of $6 million.

MP for Oropouche East Roodal Moonilal also joined the protest and led a delegation outside the Barrackpore West Secondary School over the planned removal of two jhandis (Hindu flags) on the school’s compound.

The flags were erected by Hindu students for success in their CAPE/CSEC exams.

Parents at the Four Roads Government Primary School also protested over bad school conditions.

INFLUENZA A/H1N1 (Swine Flu)

In October, Maha Sabha general secretary Sat Maharaj made a call to the Education Ministry to keep school closed for a two or three week period after he claimed that two students from the Caroni Hindu School and the Tunapuna Hindu School were confirmed positive with the virus. Parents kept their children away from school for several days which resulted in a low student turnout.

Panic also broke out at the Exchange Presbyterian School in Couva as news spread that a student of Standard Three had contracted the virus.

Additionally classes were also suspended at the Grant Memorial Presbyterian School after reports of four students confirmed with the virus started circulating.

Reports of suspected and confirmed cases of the virus were reported at the St Theresa’s RC School, Lengua Presbyterian and St Monica’s Preparatory, Trinity College.

The ministry advised action to suspend classes at any school will be taken only when the Health Ministry confirms the presence of the A/H1N1 virus after confirmatory testing that is done by the ministry. Parents were advised to keep their children with flu-like illnesses at home for ten days or until the 24 hours after their symptoms end.

SEA/CSEC/CAPE

It was also smooth sailing for 17,618 primary school students who sat the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examinations on April 26, except for some 70 students who sat a make-up exam because of various reasons.

For the first time primary school students had the opportunity to check their cellphones for a “text”message to see their SEA exam results.

Results were also sent by the usual paper slip to each school and were also posted online on a website which allowed it to be more “user-friendly.” The texting cost $100,000, made up of $30,000 for enhancements to the ministry and $70,000 to be spent externally.

Schools in Victoria district topped the national test for 2008 recording an average percentage of 55 and 54 percentage in Standard one and three. While the average percent of Standard two and four students, who wrote the Science exam, were 56 and 54 percent.

Some 58 private candidates were unable to sit their London GCE exams on May 5, due to the mix over fee payments to university agents Edexcel-the London-based examination board that runs GCE exams. The ministry apologised to the students for the mix-up and assured them that they would write the exams at no extra cost. The 58 students who were scheduled to write exams between May 5 -14 were able to do so in November. At a cost of $6 million the Government underwrote the full cost of examinations and so removed the barrier of universal access to secondary education for private candidates. Some 266 students were awarded Open and Additional Scholarships based on students’ performance at CAPE 2009. Four of which captured Regional Awards offered by CXC for most outstanding in Natural Science, Environmental Science, Mathematics and Business Studies.

CONSTRUCTION

South Korean company Haji Engineering and Construction Limited won the contract to build the first package of 50 ECCE schools at a cost of $150 million. The tendered cost to build the ECCE centres was $101.93 million. However, the ministry’s budget for each centre was $3 million which was stated in documents.

Government signed an Inter Development Bank loan agreement for support of a seamless education system in August at a cost of US $62.5 million.

Some 151 students of Guapo Government Primary School moved into the prefabricated building, built at a cost of $6 million, by the Education Facilities Company Limited (EFCL) to accommodate students previously housed at the nearby community centre, after the school was deemed unsafe. Students also moved into pre-fabricated primary schools at Brasso Roman Catholic, Mefeking Roman Catholic, Rousillac Presbyterian Primary and Salybia Government Primary schools.

Minister of Education Esther Le Gendre announced that children who are physically and emotionally challenged will be brought into the mainstream education system.

Students had the opportunity to move into four state of the art primary schools built to accommodate physically challenged students and also included installation of air-condition units, hi-tech labs and a rooftop playground instead of leaking roofs and pigeon droppings. These schools are Arima West Govt Primary, Tranquility Govt, St Mary’s Govt and St Paul’s Anglican Primary.

After more than a year of delay in construction, the doors of Tranquility Government Primary School opened at an original Budget estimated at $39 million. The tender to the local contractor was terminated and Chinese firm Beijing Luijian Construction Company Limited (BLCC) was hired to complete the job.

While the ceremony for the opening of the Tranquility Government Primary School was taking place, 70 Chinese labourers from BLCC protested by walking from their camp at Ramsaran Trace, Bejucal Road, Cunupia to the Uriah Butler Highway after complaining of more than two months of wages owed to them and the unsanitary conditions in which they lived. The workers boycotted work at the construction sites to the Aranjuez and Five Rivers Government Secondary Schools. Another state of the art school St Mary’s Government Primary School was built by the EFCL and opened at an estimated cost of $38 million. It includes a sound-proof music room and a pan theatre, computer laboratory and audio visual room.

TEACHER ABSENTEEISM

Parents and students protested outside the Education Ministry demanding the removal of a teacher at the Tranquility Government Secondary School who they claim had not been attending classes for over a year and falsifying students’ grades. President of NPTA Zena Ramatali made a call on the ministry to investigate teacher absenteeism as a result of this issue.

Some 8,000 out of 14,000 teachers stayed away from classes during a two-day national shutdown by the People’s Democracy. Parents had to keep their children away from classes because of this action.

The ministry sent out circulars advising principals to notify teachers of the type of leave that should be taken which the union was not in support of. However, no action has since been taken against any teacher.

SCHOOLS ELECTRICITY BILLS

Association of Denominational School Boards, public relations Officer Sat Maharaj said that schools were unable to handle the cost of increased electricity usage and rates, which in turn led to arrears. A call was made to the ministry to increase the maintenance grant or assist with payment of the electricity bills.

The electricity service to eight schools was cut during the July-August vacation by TTEC but was later restored after intervention by the ministry.

Upon dialogue with the denominational boards the ministry has decided to pay the electricity bills from January 1, 2010 for the schools.