Classes were abandoned at two secondary schools in south and central Trinidad yesterday after complaints of overheated classrooms and a pigeon infestation. Marabella South Secondary School students were dismissed by 10.50 am as teachers refused to work because of sickening heat in classrooms. A teacher told the T&T Guardian yesterday the central air-conditioning system was not working and it had a history of working intermittently. He said repairing it proved difficult as no technician so far had been able to figure out how to get it running again. The school has convened an emergency meeting with parents today. All students were given a letter to take home to their parents.
Students dismissed early in Chaguanas
Students also were dismissed early yesterday at Chaguanas North Secondary School as the principal told parents of the new Form One students to take their children home because teachers would not attend classes yesterday. Parent Jason Salina, of Chaguanas, told the T&T Guardian via telephone yesterday that during the orientation for the new students, the principal said owing to a pigeon-infestation near the water tanks and a building that was deemed unfit for use, teachers would not take classes. Salina said parents were told they had to call the school today to find out whether to bring their children to classes and the principal had said she did not know when teachers would come back to work. Salina asked why, during two months of vacation, the school had done nothing to address the issues. “Why they choose the first day of school? They sending children home on their first day of secondary school. It doesn’t make sense,” he added.
Ministry: 400 schools applied for repairs
Contacted yesterday afternoon, media relations co-ordinator at the Ministry of Education, Yolanda Morales-Carvalho, said the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) was still repairing schools which sent in such requests. She said the ministry received over 400 applications from schools for repairs over the July/August holiday and since it was impossible to manage such a volume of repairs in only two months, the EFCL prioritised the requests. The most critical ones included ceiling and roofing, plumbing and electrical issues. Morales-Carvalho said the list was reduced to 150 but more schools sent in repair requests over the last three weeks. She explained that even though schools have re-opened that did not mean repairs had stopped as they would be done after school and on weekends. “There are over 200 repair projects going on now,” she added.
She said in some instances, schools with repair issues that were not deemed critical were calling in to complain but they had to give the ministry time to address them. She added the ministry was committed to the continuation of school repairs but the process was designed to prioritise issues to be more effective. She said with respect to Marabella South, the EFCL was made aware of the broken air-conditioning system and was addressing it. Morales-Carvalho did not have information about Chaguanas North as yet but said EFCL was working around the clock to address emergency repairs that were popping up.