Condition of some schools deplorable – SVGTU head

The condition of some of the nation’s schools has been described by the president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers Union (SVGTU) Oswald Robinson as deplorable.

As he addressed the closing ceremony of the annual teachers’ summer institute workshop last Friday, Robinson revealed that the union made this observation when they visited the schools, and stated that one unnamed school has termites in the kindergarten class.{{more}}

He further stated that requests to have meetings with the Ministry of Education have so far proven futile.

“I don’t know who is dodging, you know; we have been writing and asking for meetings,” he said.

Robinson also noted that he has been monitoring what has been happening in Canouan, where experts have said that the government school is structurally unsafe.

He called on the Government to explain what is going on with the repairs there.

“And I saw people digging out the walls and plastering and patching; this is unacceptable. You need to tell us exactly what you’re doing, because the health and the safety of our children and our teachers is something that this union, under my leadership, is not gonna take slightly; when we do things, we have to do it properly; people’s lives are at stake,” he added.

Robinson said teachers are expected to return to the deplorable conditions to perform, but are afraid to alert authorities so that the situation can be remedied.

“We have to look at the working conditions and if the working conditions are not favourable, it’s going to have a impact on your ability to produce quality teaching,” he told the teachers at the closing ceremony.(AS)