Biche High stays shut

DESPITE calls by Opposition MPs and residents to formally open the Biche High School, the controversial learning institution faces the prospect of remaining closed after large pools of water were discovered under the building, according to Education Minister Hazel Manning. Manning, who visited the Corinth Teachers’ Training College in South Trinidad yesterday, said rehabilitation work tenders were forwarded to the Central Tenders Board for the third time. “We placed tenders both locally and internationally, and did not receive the response that was expected. So for the third time, we have placed tenders at the Central Tenders Board,” Manning said.

She said during a site visit at the school, an Education Ministry engineer found ponds of water beneath the school. “We discovered ponding on the plateau of the school which could be caused by a number of factors,” Manning said. She added that the ministry was conducting regular monitoring of the school as outlined by a Commission of Inquiry which was established to probe the circumstances surrounding the building of the school, and problems which prevented it from opening. Secondary Education Modernisation Programme (SEMP) consultant Arnie West, who was also at the Corinth Teachers’ Training College yesterday, opined that geo-thermal activity under the area may be responsible for the ponding.

He said slippage of the road as well as movement of the school’s compound could also be linked to geo-thermal activity, adding that the rate of slippage was nearly impossible to predict. Manning said the Public Transport Service Corporation was asked to implement several measures to improve school transportation service in rural areas, including the introduction of a maxi-taxi transport system to take students from rural villages to their various schools. She said maxi-taxi operators from these villages were being encouraged to participate in the school transportation system.