re-assigned
to the Manzanilla High School, since the official opening was delayed
because of reports of gas emissions and other structural damages.
The school has been in the news ever since, as politicians and their
supporters on either side of the political fence continue to wrangle.
Over the years, various agencies visited the school and have all
come up with different findings.
A Commission of Enquiry led by Justice Annestine Sealey was also
held.
The parents who begged anonymity openly expressed disgust at the
politics being played with the school.
“I think we could do better for the progress of Biche and
we need an honest view,” said a spokesman.
“PNM think UNC wrong and UNC think PNM wrong …”
Mirror’s own experience was a harrowing one, just to make
the trek up the winding, mossy and slippery road to the top, and
it was even worse to get back down to the bottom.
Because of inactivity in the area, both the pavement and the driveway
leading to the school are covered in thick moss, making it almost
impossible to walk.
The other entrance to the school, via 112 steps, remains hidden
under thick vines and grass.
A view from the outside of the school, with its well-manicured lawns
and clean yard, makes it look as if all is well, but one community
activist who has been monitoring the situation at the school told
Mirror the interior has deteriorated badly.
“The school is now leaking and there’s a big pond below
the school,” she said.
The visibly upset parent said many people “shooting off their
mouths” have never visited the school.
“Biche parents don’t visit the school; if they really
took a good look at the school they would not even want their dog
to come to this school now the way it is,” she added.
“Since this school in the news is only visitors does come
here and sneak in.”
Some concerned parents felt the best thing for the community to
do is to mount protest action demanding a brand new school.
“The condition of the school does not allow for repair,”
she added.
The parent advised: “What the Ministry must do is salvage
the steel beams, the galvanize etc.”
Mirror was told that, to date, all the fittings in the school have
remained intact.
“It’s six years since the school has been here and thank
God it has not been vandalised,” said the parent who visits
the school ever so often.
“The air-condition units, the speakers, doors, cupboards,
water tanks everything are in place.
“I think the Ministry of Education should start dismantling
this building because it is no damn good.
“It will cost the same to repair as it will cost to build
a new one; so a new one is the way to go.”
When contacted, MP Partap described the Biche High School as “a
PNM monument”.
He also defended the fact that he hasn’t visited the school
within recent years.
He asked: “What am I going up there for, what am I going to
see?
“If PNM had followed the recommendations made by the Commission
of Enquiry and make the necessary repairs, students could have been
in the school today.
“I’ve raised the matter about the need for the school
four times in Parliament; we (village) went to Port of Spain several
times and still nothing.”
But Partap conceded: “Because of its deterioration over the
last four years, I now agree with the Ministry of Education that
another school should be built on a new site.
“But there were no provisions in the Budget for it.
“If the government had intentions of building a new school,
the money would have been there.”
Last September, Education Minister Hazel Manning told the media
in San Fernando: “We are now mothballing the school.
“The Biche High School will be rebuilt because that one has
cracks and is falling apart.
“It is very dangerous to put children in that school.”
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