Concerns about safety at St Silas Primary

Teachers and parents of students who attend St Silas Primary School are concerned about the lack of security there, following a nearby shooting, and are urging authorities to fix the situation with the school year just days away from beginning.

President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Rudy Lovell and president of the parent-teacher association of the Orange Hill, St James school Venus Smith told Barbados TODAY they wanted the relevant authorities to pay attention and act before something unfortunate occurred.

“Teachers would have contacted the union expressing concerns in regards to the absence of security at the school and about the school fence being down since 2010. This was reported to the Ministry of Education on several occasions and to date, the school has no security guard,” Lovell said.

“People in the community use the school as a thoroughfare and teachers have reported seeing people walking through the school with swords, wheelbarrows, sticks and knives. Teachers feel uncomfortable, especially as people in the past came onto the compound in a threatening manner. They are extremely concerned because of the shooting that occurred on Sunday evening in the school neighbourhood.”

The BUT head said he wanted the issue addressed as soon as possible.

“We are asking if something cannot be done. We are tired of writing and asking for issues at St Silas to be addressed and we are hopeful that given what happened Sunday evening, that there can be some rectification of the concerns raised by staff,” he said.

“We want remedial work done. This is 13 years since the fence was down and you can’t have people walking in and out of the school on a daily basis as they are like while classes are going on. It is unacceptable.”

Similarly, Smith said the security issues at the school were dragging on for too long.

“There is a derelict car at the front of the school since school was in and it is still there, and we reached out to the Ministry of Education about that issue because it is blocking a part of the crossing. The fencing at the back of the school is totally gone; even the poles are gone. Anyone can just walk in. The fellas are known to go through the school to get to the shop or to pick breadfruits,” she lamented.

Smith added that she was also concerned about some of the termite infested furniture in the classrooms.

(SZB)