Kay-Marie Fletch­er

Se­nior Re­porter

kay-marie.fletch­er
@guardian.co.tt

There have been mixed re­ac­tions from the mi­grant com­mu­ni­ty fol­low­ing an an­nounce­ment by the Gov­ern­ment that come Sep­tem­ber their chil­dren would be al­lowed to en­ter the pri­ma­ry school sys­tem to get an ed­u­ca­tion.

Guardian Me­dia reached out to sev­er­al mi­grant par­ents in cen­tral Trinidad and some said they were hap­py for the news, while oth­ers said they were not.

In Ch­agua­nas yes­ter­day, one Venezue­lan fa­ther Lu­idex­on Gamar­do said, “Ho­la, my daugh­ter is five years old and she is ready to start school now in Trinidad and To­ba­go. I thank the Gov­ern­ment.”

Mean­while, some mi­grants said they will not be send­ing their chil­dren to school be­cause they have ex­pe­ri­enced bul­ly­ing.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia at the Mon­roe Road fly­over, one Venezuela moth­er, who asked not to be named, said her son at­tend­ed a school in Pe­nal for a short while last term and was as­sault­ed.

Point­ing to bruis­es on her son’s cheeks, she said he was bul­lied be­cause he is His­pan­ic and does not speak Eng­lish.

Sur­round­ed by two oth­er moth­ers and their four chil­dren com­bined at the side of the fly­over beg­ging for mon­ey, the woman said while they once dreamt of see­ing their chil­dren at­tend schools in Trinidad, it is now a night­mare that they no longer wish to pur­sue.

In­stead, the moth­ers said, they have de­cid­ed to send their chil­dren back to Venezuela for school.

At present, there are thou­sands of mi­grant chil­dren out of school.