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Monday, February 10, 2025

Parents at Couva West Secondary stage protest

by

SHASTRI BOODAN
1843 days ago
20200124
Angry parents protest outside the Couva West Secondary School on Thursday 23 Janaury 2020

Angry parents protest outside the Couva West Secondary School on Thursday 23 Janaury 2020

SHASTRI BOODAN

An­gry par­ents of stu­dents at­tend­ing the de­funct Cou­va West Sec­ondary School are de­mand­ing that an im­me­di­ate so­lu­tion be found to house stu­dents.

Par­ents demon­strat­ed out­side the school at Balis­er Street on Thurs­day, af­ter a meet­ing with Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter An­tho­ny Gar­cia flopped when the min­is­ter failed to show.

Cou­va South MP Rudranath In­dars­ingh told Guardian Me­dia rough­ly 250 par­ents, mem­bers of the PTA ex­ec­u­tive, TTUTA mem­bers, teach­ers and of­fi­cials from the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion gath­ered for a meet­ing at the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion’s sub-of­fices, on the com­pound of the old Cou­va Ju­nior Sec­ondary School around 4.30 pm.

In­dars­ingh said around 4.50 pm it was an­nounced that Gar­cia would not be com­ing. Par­ents start­ed an up­roar, de­mand­ing Gar­cia and the school to be re­opened.

"I am call­ing on the min­is­ter to dis­play some kind of com­mon sense and im­me­di­ate­ly re­fur­bish the Old Cou­va Ju­nior Sec­ondary School and house the stu­dents and teach­ers," the Cou­va South MP stat­ed.

It was af­ter 5 pm that the meet­ing was squashed and par­ents start­ed walk­ing out­side, mak­ing their way fur­ther down the street to­ward the Cou­va West Sec­ondary School, where they demon­strat­ed and held a me­dia con­fer­ence.

Vincent Boyce speaks with  Guardian Media on Thursday, when angry parents demonstrated and held a news conference outside the Couva West Secondary School.

Vincent Boyce speaks with Guardian Media on Thursday, when angry parents demonstrated and held a news conference outside the Couva West Secondary School.

SHASTRI BOODAN

An an­gry Vin­cent Boyce said class­es have been stopped since Oc­to­ber 2019. Boyce, who has a daugh­ter at­tend­ing the school, said Cou­va West Sec­ondary has been plagued with prob­lems since 2013. He said the Min­istry has ac­cused the stu­dents and par­ents of sab­o­tage, and not­ed that the pletho­ra of prob­lems in­clude mould, faulty plumb­ing, and faulty air-con­di­tion­ing units.

Boyce said his last child, who at­tend­ed the school, failed three CXC sub­jects. He told Guardian Me­dia he was dis­ap­point­ed over Min­is­ter Gar­cia’s fail­ure to show.

“He sup­posed to be in the meet­ing and he cyar come. You was a wood work­ing teacher! You were a teacher. You have chil­dren,” he said. “The chil­dren of T&T who are in Cou­va West have a right to ed­u­ca­tion be­cause we pay tax­es. We are na­tion­als of T&T.”

Boyce said the par­ents have had it.

Sheldon Wilkinson speaks with  Guardian Media on Thursday, when angry parents demonstrated and held a news conference outside the Couva West Secondary School.

Sheldon Wilkinson speaks with Guardian Media on Thursday, when angry parents demonstrated and held a news conference outside the Couva West Secondary School.

SHASTRI BOODAN

Shel­don Wilkin­son, an­oth­er par­ent, said the 720 stu­dents at­tend­ing the school should have make-up class­es dur­ing the school hol­i­days.

Ro­han Per­sad, an­oth­er par­ent, said the gov­ern­ment should send stu­dents to var­i­ous pri­vate sec­ondary schools in Cen­tral Trinidad. Per­sad stat­ed that it was un­fair that mil­lions of dol­lars were be­ing used to ren­o­vate ed­i­fices as the Prime Min­is­ter Res­i­dence, the Red House and the Pres­i­dent’s House, which he said are no val­ue to the sim­ple man in hard eco­nom­ic times.

A fe­male par­ent who wished not to be iden­ti­fied said the old Cou­va Ju­nior Sec­ondary School build­ing is be­ing un­der­uti­lized and can be used to house class­es, in­stead of hav­ing con­trac­tors at­tempt to fix the new school at the cost of mil­lions of dol­lars.

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Sto­ry and pho­tos by SHAS­TRI BOODAN


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