People's National Movement (PNM) political leader Dr Keith Rowley has called on Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh to take immediate action to repair the Marac Baptist School.Rowley has accused the Government of neglecting the children of Marac and La Lune, in Moruga, as the school has been closed since the start of the new term last month."This is unacceptable," Rowley declared as he addressed a PNM meeting on Wednesday night at Samuel Junction, Basse Terre, Moruga.He said he felt a "tinge of sadness" as he toured Marac on Wednesday and learned that the children of Marac and La Lune had not been attending school.
The Opposition Leader said the children were being disadvantaged by the closure of the school and action was needed."On behalf of all the people of Marac and especially those in La Lune, I am calling on the Minister of Education to take immediate action to make sure the children of Marac and La Lune get into school at the earliest opportunity," he said."I don't know if the Minister of Education knows or even cares that the children of Marac and La Lune are not going to school."He said in the PNM's local government manifesto the party was proposing that regional corporations be given the responsibility and resources to maintain government buildings and schools in the electoral districts under their control."If the Princes Town Regional Corporation had the responsibility for repairing and maintaining schools, I am pretty certain the school in Marac would not have deteriorated to point where it is unusable and children would not be going to school," Rowley said."They would have maintained the school in an ongoing basis and you would have your children going to school when the term opens."
He said the PNM was committed to local government reform and if the Government wanted introduce a similar reform in the coming months, the PNM would support the Government.
He said the PNM, if returned to office, would ensure that the reform was made."The Princes Town Regional Corporation, like other corporations, will have the responsibility for maintaining public buildings and schools and simple type of buildings...So this would never happen again," he said.Rowley also took issue with the fact that the Marac Community Centre remains closed to the public even though it was completed three years ago.He said the contractor was holding the keys to the community centre until he was paid for his work.Rowley said the Government continued to neglect rural communities like Moruga.