When a major fire gutted the North Ruimveldt Multilateral Secondary School (NRMSS)in June 2021, Minister of Education, Priya Manikchand, was quick at the scene to show her concern. But nine months later, students and teachers are still without basic classroom essentials, educational facilities and materials. Recently, the Minister of Education demanded that these students return to their classrooms for face-to-face learning, even though many of those classrooms no longer exist at NRMSS.
At a Parent Teachers Association (PTA) meeting held on March 10, 2022, teachers, and parents expressed frustration that students are starved for books, because the burnt out library was never resupplied. Parents are also being asked to help, where they can, in providing classroom facilities for the students for Information Technology.
With $387 billion spent in budget 2021 and $60 billion going to the Ministry of Education in that year, the expectation was that the plight of the over 500 students and 35 teachers who watched their school destroyed would have been given priority. Instead, students are now forced to face the challenges of the 2022 CSEC exams from the rubble and debris of the once iconic institution.
With the Natural Resources Fund (NRF) being emptied to fund the $552 billion 2022 budget, the public including teachers and students, is within its right to demand that this egregious situation be corrected and the education of our children be given the priority it deserves.
More, In The Ring.
