SASCHA WIL­SON

Frus­trat­ed par­ents and past stu­dents of the Mara­bel­la Boys' and Girls' An­gli­can School are call­ing on the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion to open the new school.

Hold­ing up plac­ards, par­ents and mem­bers of the Mara­bel­la Boys' and Girls' An­gli­can Past Stu­dents As­so­ci­a­tion, protest­ed in front the school com­pound at Bay Road on Thurs­day, call­ing for the school to be com­plet­ed and re­opened.

They com­plained that nine years ago, stu­dents were re­lo­cat­ed to var­i­ous schools in San Fer­nan­do, Har­mo­ny Hall and Gas­par­il­lo, while the new school was be­ing con­struct­ed.

As­so­ci­a­tion mem­ber, Trevor Mor­ris, said that San Fer­nan­do West MP Faris Al Rawi had stat­ed in 2019 that the gov­ern­ment had bor­rowed $400 mil­lion to com­plete the school. Mor­ris claimed that apart from some mi­nor works, in­clud­ing elec­tric­i­ty, the school is ready to be opened.

Par­ent Teacher As­so­ci­a­tion (PTA) rep­re­sen­ta­tive Marisa Davis wants Al-Rawi and the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion to in­di­cate when the school will be opened.

"We have been hear­ing for years every year is the next year, every term is the next term to­day. We will like to find out the ex­act day our chil­dren will be able to en­ter their school which has al­ready been com­plet­ed and we would al­so like to get an­swers as to why we are not able to get in­to the school as yet and what is the keep back."

She said an­oth­er is­sue is that the gov­ern­ment-spon­sored shut­tle ser­vice for stu­dents has been un­avail­able since the new term re­opened, and par­ents, many of whom strug­gled to buy uni­forms and school sup­plies, now have to find mon­ey for pub­lic trans­port.

They al­so com­plained that there is on­ly one road in and out of the school, but it has since been nar­rowed and could on­ly ac­com­mo­date one lane.

They have threat­ened to in­ten­si­fy their protests if their ques­tions re­main unan­swered, and the school is not re­opened in a rea­son­able time.