Yesterday, after examining the disrepair at several primary and junior schools in the capital, Senator Tommy Turnquest criticised the PLP government for its lack of focus on education, saying that this year’s school re-opening promises to be the worst on record.
One day before the scheduled opening of the new school, a contingent of prospective FNM candidates and council members led by Senator Turnquest made a four-school stop to demonstrate, contrary to the Minister of Education’s announcement, that the government operated school system would not “be open and ready for the more than 60,000 students” today.
“School re-openings since September, 2002 nave been plagued with confusion arising from delayed summer school repair programmes, late transfer of some teaching staff, acute teacher shortages, particularly in the Family Islands and the issuance of misinformation by the Ministry to parents and teachers,” said Senator Turnquest.
In view of the conditions that will greet parents and students on their first day back, the Senator said the blame for any misstep in the “organization and running of the government operated school system” must be placed where it belongs, at the feet of the Minister.
“Perhaps he hoped that no one would pay attention to his remarks,” said Senator Turnquest, “but we are watching and we are listening because we in the FNM care about what is happening and what is failing to happen in the goverment operated education system.
Using TG Glover as the backdrop for his media address the Senator criticised Education Minister Alfred Sears for his failure to have schools ready for the new school year and his inability to construct new schools during his four-year tenure at the head of the ministry. οΎ ”The Minister can pretend about many things but he can’t pretend to have been unaware until now of the condition of TG Glover Primary School in his own constituency. After all, he participated in a demonstration in 2002 against the FNM, demanding that the FNM build a replacement school for TG Glover students,” Senator Turnquest pointed out.
Now after four-and-a-half years, the Senator continued, “what the students and parents of students at TG Glover know, is that they’ll be returning to study in trailer classrooms – trailers placed on what ought to be the expanded playgrounds of the Albury Sayles Primary School.”
This round of criticism directed at the Minister and his ministry’s work is nothing new, as they were highly criticised for the state of the school system during the 2004 and 2005 opening as well.
In August of 2004, Minister Sears acknowledged that schools all over the Bahamas needed urgent repairs and improvement, but because of limited resources, the Minister said there was a “perverse process” of focusing on some schools and not others.
At the time, he said that maintenance staff were being deployed to many schools to prevent small problems from turning into major long term problems.
Then, the Minister followed this up last November, noting that the Ministry of Education had prepared a proposal for a preventative maintenance programme for government schools to prevent schools from opening late after summer holidays due to incomplete repair work.
Now despite the Minister’s plans, he has once again left himself open for Senator Turnquest to say: “Nothing has transpired during the past four years to convince the FNM of the present government’s commitment to education.”
Senator Turnquest said that excellence in education must be restored to The Bahamas.
“The FNM will return education to the front burner on the national agenda, remove political interference from the operation of the government school system and afford professional educators the support and respect they have earned and deserve.”
By Mark Humes, The Tribune
