Parents highlight problems at San Juan Boys and Girls

Representative Joel Scott said the renovation to the building that housed the two schools on Second Street, San Juan came to an abrupt halt in October 2015.

“Today, nobody is telling us when the work will restart,” he said.

The boys were moved to the Eastern Main Road, Tunapuna location five years ago and the girls were moved the following year.

The renovations were scheduled to be completed in 2016, instead, Scott said things have gone from bad to worse and the children were being made to suffer.

A petition dated September 15, 2016 and signed by 108 parents was sent to the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Education outlining the inconveniences the children suffer. In the petition, they sought a status update on the renovations but got no reply.

Since the work on the building stopped in 2015, he said, drug addicts, the homeless, bats, rats and pigeons have taken over.

Pointing to loose galvanise sheets hanging from the roof, Scott said the children assemble in the yard every morning to take the Public Transportation Services Corporation buses that transport them to Tunapuna.

“They could be injured should the galvanise sheets fall when the children are present.” The children, he said, lose more than two hours of schooling each day because of having to travel from San Juan to Tunapuna.