‘Woodlice’ blamed for school furniture headache

Repeated woodlice infestation has been blamed for the recurring challenges with outfitting primary and secondary schools with furniture every new school year.

Officials from the Ministry of Education have bemoaned the headache that arises out of meeting the furniture needs, disclosing that requests have been made to Cabinet for additional money to meet furniture needs for the 2024/2025 school year.

Out of a Principals and Headteachers meeting hosted on Wednesday, August 28, school leaders detailed the headache of sourcing enough furniture to seat students at the start of the school year, with some revealing that they expect there to be inadequate seating as has been the case in the past.

The Principal of the Dr J.P Eustace Memorial Secondary School, in her contribution at the meeting, said that arising from a site visit conducted by regional disaster agency, CDEMA, it was recommended that up to five classrooms of furniture be discarded due to woodlice infestation.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Myccle Burke, described the furniture issue as a “bone of contention” and a challenge that the Ministry of Education has been grappling with for some time.

He said the ministry is addressing the furniture needs for schools, particularly the one at the old Teachers College site at Arnos Vale site which is being used to house students from Union Island and Canouan, as well as Calder. He said the ministry is “still getting requests” for furniture from other schools.

“It almost seems insurmountable. We started the process earlier and we ended up in the same situation,” he explained.

“We have gone back to

Cabinet for additional resources, something in the vicinity of

$3 million for furniture needs

and additional equipment because we have [damaged] equipment,” he told school leaders at the meeting.

He disclosed that the Ministry of Education, for this academic year, received just over 15 percent of the national budget to address schools’ needs. While he described this as an “increase in allocation”, he said there were still some challenges in how resources were being utilized.

This week commenced the phased reopening of schools as instituted by the Cabinet, as some schools are still under renovation due to damage experienced from Hurricane Beryl.

September 9 and the 16 are the dates set for other schools to officially welcome students for the new school year.