Schools get started

After two weeks of uncertainty and negative publicity over the late reopening of two primary schools, classes are now in session.

As parents dropped their children off on Monday morning at the Belmont and Eagle Hall Primary Schools, their reports were much better than those a week before when the schools were closed amid health and safety concerns.

At Belmont Primary School, the portable toilets which young children were asked to use the previous Monday were now gone and replaced with spanking new bathrooms. The walls were freshly-painted and the once rocky driveway had a new coat of asphalt.

Spanking new bathroom facilities at Belmont Primary School.

“The school is in immaculate condition,” said Roland Layne, the father of a boy in Class One.

Outspoken parent Roland Layne said the Belmont Primary School was in immaculate condition.

The outspoken father told reporters he preferred the school for his son because it was small and the teaching staff is one family. Layne said it would have been “heart-wrenching” if his son was forced to transfer as a result of the issues. The concerned father, however, acknowledged some parts of the school desperately needed to be repaired and was pleased the work had finally been completed.

“It is not a new school. It existed for a long time and it needed the work for a very long time so we still need to give the Minister and the Government kudos for coming on board and getting the school ready. Yes, we had a little setback, but I believe now the bathrooms are finished, you can see the difference. The areas that were rough, you could see the barber green. So I think everybody is happy. We just have to get back to normalcy and everyone needs to settle down because we’re already two weeks behind,” he said.

Despite the lost time, Layne suggested that parents, where possible, ought to take a greater role in educating their own children.

“Parenting isn’t just about getting up and making breakfast, it is about reading with your child, encouraging them with their tables. Every single step that they make, parents have to take that step with them,” he said.

“Even while there are on vacation, they have their playtime, but they should also have their time to learn their work. So I don’t think this little two weeks will affect them at all.”

Janelle Cato, the mother of two students attending Belmont Primary said she did not feel good about the circumstances surrounding the two-week closure, but was happy to finally have her children back in the classroom.

“I was very concerned because I wanted to know what was going on. I felt shut out and in the wilderness, because when I came up here to get the books, I realized the school was closed and when I called, I wasn’t getting any answer. Someone then told me the school was shut because it wasn’t ready,” explained the parent.

However, after dropping off her children to school today, Cato told reporters: “I feel very good.”

Meanwhile, at Eagle Hall Primary, a tremendous amount of dust which had been affecting teachers and students for some time had been taken care of with the laying of asphalt. In addition, classrooms and corridors received a much-needed improvement in the form of tiling and painting.

Tonya Mayers whose son transferred to Eagle Hall this school year said she was concerned about the changes but accepted explanations from education officials and management of the school that more work needed to be done.

Folasade Griffith, the mother of a son in Infants B welcomed the improvements.

“It is a welcomed improvement from all of the dust that was around here before. With the late start, I wasn’t too pleased, because the same thing happened last year when the children started two weeks later because of some work going on,” lamented Griffith.

Meanwhile, President of the Barbados Teachers’ Union, Sean Spencer, who recently voiced his displeasure with some aspects of the ministry’s handling of back-to-school preparations told Barbados TODAY he was awaiting word from union officials at the two schools. In the absence of reports to the contrary, he assumed the experience was a positive one for his members. kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb