BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS – There is no end in sight for the continued shifting of students and faculty at what the PLP-CCM-PAM coalition government said is the new state of the art wooden structure Basseterre High School (BHS).
“It is shameful to see that after four years of talk, the latest addition to the ‘modern state of the art’ Basseterre High School are five used containers to be used as additional classrooms for the fifth formers. It is really a disgrace and an insult to our children to house them in containers.” Parliamentary Representative for Central Basseterre, Hon. Marcella Liburd Wednesday told the Nation on Wednesday.
With the BHS students and teachers already scattered at several locations – AVEC, WAHS, 17 Degrees, Premiere Dental and Beach-Allen – Ms, Liburd said it is a clear indication that the modern state of the art temporary facilities were not even properly planned.
“This is totally unacceptable and deplorable that in 2017, our students who are preparing for the upcoming CXC exams and possible entry into the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) are being placed in containers as classrooms,” said Liburd during Wednesday’s “Issues” programme on Freedom 106.5 FM and Kyss 102.5 FM.
Ms. Liburd, a former educator also expressed concern that students, especially the fifth formers in all high schools are at a disadvantage following the Team Unity’s stopping of the one-to-one laptop programme.
She also raised the question as to who is benefitting financially by the provision of the containers, noting that similar facilities were used as fencing for Sugar Mass at Port Zante in 2015/2016 and booths in 2016/2017.
“Who is really making all this money,” she said, adding that the containers can be used to “ship the Timothy Harris-led PLP/CCM/PAM Government out of office.”
. After four years of talk – two in opposition and two in government –, Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris and Education Minister, Hon. Shawn Richards, are yet to break ground for construction of the new Basseterre High School promised in 2015.
The original home of the BHS, formerly the St. Kitts-Nevis Grammar School, was closed down in the face of separate reportsfrom local scientists, theTrinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI), also based in Trinidad and the Washington-based National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which recommended that the buildings could be inhabited after remedial works, which were already being undertaken are completed.
Although the reports were rejected, the Harris PLP/CCM/PAM Government still removed three wooden buildings from the original site at a cost of nearly EC$600,000 and is using them as classrooms and the principal’s office at Taylors, where two other wooden buildings were constructed by a Barbados company at a cost of EC$5 million.
*This article was posted in its entirety as received by SKN PULSE. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical errors within press releases and (or) commentaries. The views contained within are not necessarily those of SKN PULSE.
