Rhon­da Krys­tal Ram­bal­ly

Pupils at­tend­ing the La Pas­to­ra Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry School in San­ta Cruz were in dan­ger of re­turn­ing to a smelly and shab­by school com­pound to­mor­row when the new term be­gins. In an ef­fort to im­prove con­di­tions for the chil­dren, par­ents and friends were yes­ter­day busy try­ing to fix bro­ken toi­lets and taps and clean up the school sur­round­ings at School Road, La Pas­to­ra Land Set­tle­ment so that class­es can re­sume. Pres­i­dent of the Par­ent Teacher As­so­ci­a­tion (PTA) An­gela Ojoe said the school will be re­opened de­spite nu­mer­ous prob­lems. She said the Ed­u­ca­tion Facil­ties Com­pa­ny Lim­it­ed gave as­sur­ances that a scope of works would be car­ried out over the Ju­ly/Au­gust va­ca­tion but noth­ing was done. Ojoe said the ceil­ing is old and moldy, the ceil­ing fans are bro­ken and ready to fall, bench­es are ter­mite-rid­den, the iron rail­ings rusty, toi­lets in a state of dis­re­pair, and the stench from the sew­er is un­bear­able. Ojoe called on Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Tim Gopeesingh to vis­it the school.

"Come here and see what's hap­pen­ing be­cause we can't come and protest by the min­istry," she said. Ojoe said in Jan­u­ary pupils were forced to stay at home be­cause of a sew­er prob­lem. "We lost two weeks in Jan­u­ary be­cause of that prob­lem be­cause it was re­al­ly stink," she said. "Near­by neigh­bours al­so com­plained about the smell...the se­cu­ri­ty guards at the school found it dif­fi­cult to stay on the com­pound," Ojoe added. Since last Mon­day sev­er­al par­ents have been clean­ing, paint­ing and re­plac­ing bro­ken doors. She said the PTA and the school used close to $10,000 to buy ma­te­ri­als to re­pair and clean up the school. "We can­not keep our chil­dren at home all the time," Ojoe said. "This is a gov­ern­ment school and we get no help. We have to find a way to fix our school." The PTA will meet on Sep­tem­ber 15 to dis­cuss a way for­ward for the school which is more than 100 years old.