00:00The Gloucester Lodge Moravian Primary School has been a long-standing institution in the Belmont community for over 130 years.
00:07But now approximately 140 students and their teachers are being displaced since the school has been forced to close due
00:16to sewer and infrastructural issues.
00:18Well, I would have wanted to say we're at a point of crisis, but it's beyond that.
00:25There has been significant infrastructural challenges that we've been having over the years, and it has come to the point
00:34where the school is now closed.
00:37We have sewage leaking, we have electrical issues, and we also have issues of partitions that are on the bridge
00:47of falling,
00:48bringing a very present danger to students and parents, or sorry, students and the teachers alike.
00:57With the school closed and exams on the horizon for standards 4 and 5,
01:02the school's officials have contacted the ministry to find a temporary location to house the students and teachers
01:08so they don't lag behind on the work that needs to be completed.
01:12We have, we have, we are awaiting a formal response and a conversation,
01:18and I think this is where we should begin to engage the ministry in terms of what are the next
01:25steps.
01:26How do we get the students back out, at least temporarily, at a new location while work is done here,
01:34and then beyond that, a further conversation in terms of a permanent relocation for the school.
01:40Councilor for the Belmont South Area, Raphael Burns, says he is willing to work with the ministry
01:46and already has a short list of relocation proposals.
01:49We are trying our best to bring a collaborative effort in order to get the school back and functional.
01:56We have some options. We are thinking about the Gonzalez Community Centre.
02:01We are thinking also of the St Jude's Home or any other area that may be available to us.
02:07The Moravian have a compound at Rose Hill.
02:11So we are considering all of these to make sure that the key component,
02:15which is the education of the child, continues.
02:20Natasha Moraldo has had children and grandchildren attend the Gloucester Lodge School,
02:24and she is pleading with the ministry to do something, as it is now affecting parents as well.
02:29We need a lot of things in the school to be done, right?
02:34And during the August vacation, they could have done something for the school, but they did not, right?
02:41Now the children came back out of school and have to be back home again, right?
02:45It is hard for some parents to stay home from work and babysit their children
02:49because they have no one to watch their kids.
02:52And there are some children that are home and have no supervision going on with them,
02:56so the kids need to come back out of school.
02:58TV6 reached out to Minister of Education Dr. Michael Dowlath for an update on the school's situation.
03:05He told us that the ministry's corporate communications department would be in touch.
03:09However, up to news time, we received no response.
03:12Dominic Ramroop, TV6 News.
03:14We'll see you soon for a little bit of an update on the school news.
