The PNCR says it hopes that the Jagdeo Administration and Ministry of Education uses Education Month to examine ways in which “the conditions of our teachers can be improved and the education system bettered.”
In a press release the party said change in the education system can only come about if serious attention is paid to the deficiencies of the system and measures taken to correct them. The party said it is concerned that Minister of Education Shaik Baksh has not shown the requisite sensitivity for issues affecting rural and indigenous communities and students even as the country is observing Amerindian Heritage Month.
The party said the ministry must recognise that there is need for flush toilets at all schools regardless of where the community is located, in the wake of the death of a student while using a pit latrine on the first day of the new school term. The PNCR also drew attention to the fire at the Waramadong school dormitory which claimed the lives of three students. The ministry must treat these matters with urgency, the party contends.
The PNCR said the ministry must also address the lapses in planning for rehabilitation works that should have been conducted during the school recess and completed in time for the new school term. It also questions why school exercise books are being printed in Trinidad and not locally and the postponement of the Interactive Radio Instruction Programme which has slowed the implementation of the project.
