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  • 2 months ago
All schools may have reopened for the new term in Tobago but not all are ready for teaching and learning. Tobago TTUTA Officer Bradon Roberts says too many institutions remain in poor condition, and he's calling on the Division of Education to step up.

Nicole M Romany has more.
Transcript
00:00In Tobago, questions are brewing over toilet facilities at one school.
00:05Tutors, Braden Roberts, says a directive forcing boys and girls to share the same washrooms at Mason Hall Primary School
00:13highlights serious concerns over leadership at the Division of Education.
00:19What was reported to me is that the principal was instructed to have the boys and the girls use the girls' toilets
00:25because the boys' toilets were not available.
00:28Now, late yesterday evening, the Division put a release categorically denying that.
00:34So, you know, it questions the level of integrity that these people really have
00:37because the principal did not just come up with that idea to just put out a false statement
00:42that the Division is instructing her.
00:44The principal did not to protect herself because she knows the instruction is a foul one
00:49and she's not going to be taking responsibility for boys and girls mixing in the same toilet.
00:53So, I would really like the Division to step up their game, you know.
00:58Roberts tells us when he came to the media raising concerns about school readiness.
01:03The Division issued a statement claiming that people were manufacturing chaos
01:08and stressed that schools were ready.
01:11However, he says, what the Division considers ready for reopening is simply that schools function,
01:18whether they are fit for use or not.
01:20He adds that there are schools with repairs still outstanding.
01:24We have Roxbury Anglican School.
01:27They had condemned part of that school early last year
01:30and they indicated that they were going to work on that area.
01:33Now, the roof is leaking, so the ceiling is falling in.
01:38They had condemned that area to work on it last year repair program and they did not.
01:44They said they will do it this year repair program.
01:47No communication with the school as to we're not able to do it anymore,
01:51when are we going to reschedule it, nothing at all.
01:53Now, we have a growing school population
01:55and they are now cramming the children into less space.
01:59Roberts also raises concerns about the deployment of police officers in schools,
02:03saying there should have been greater stakeholder consultation.
02:07I don't know if they could be trained fully in two months
02:11because our children have said they don't fear authority, you know.
02:14They curse in front of police officers, they wrestle with police officers.
02:20So, yes, it's a concern with them having weapons,
02:23if they're going to have weapons at the school
02:24because there will be a need to use it in those high-risk schools.
02:30So, we need to have a clear understanding.
02:32Then, I don't think that there was any proper stakeholder consultation.
02:36They put forward their idea, they take people's concerns
02:39and they do their own thing anyway.
02:40Prime Minister Kamala Persad-Bissar-Savaya's statement has said
02:43no matter what some commentators say, the law remains the law
02:47and the TDPS officers are free to carry firearms inside or outside schools
02:53if deemed necessary.
02:55Nicole M. Romani, TV6 News.
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