Bahamas Democratic Movement president, Cassius Stuart harshly criticised Minister of Education, Afred Sears Tuesday, saying it was unacceptable for him to continue to provide ‘excuses’ for the poor condition of some public schools.
Mr Stuart was responding to Mr Sears, who on Sunday when asked why the ministry, which had eight weeks of summer to carry out school repairs, did not initiate those repairs sooner, replied,” But first of all, out of the 158 schools we have in the public system, we had only four schools in New Providence and four in the Family Islands where we have been challenged.”
“So obviously for the majority of schools, we were able to ready them. When one looks at the total picture, I think it is a bit of an exaggeration to say there was a total failure.”
Mr Stuart hit back at those remarks, saying, “Our children do not need excuses; they need solutions.”
Mr Sears was also quoted as saying, “Mr Stuart has the right to express himself. But he must know, as he has lived in The Bahamas all of his life, that we have in some cases physical infrastructure, some of which are older than 100 years.”
In response, Mr Stuart asked, “How could the minister provide the excuse that some of our schools are more than 10-years-old?”
“Quite frankly, a building that is old should not be used to facilitate school children, but instead be protected under the antiquities and monuments act, and used only as a museum.”
Mr Stuart then surmised that the education minister ‘did not get it,’ saying one school not ready is one too many.
He added that the four schools in New Providence that were not ready, represented an average of 700 students per school being affected.
“So, to have four schools not ready, means that more than 2,800 students must be displaced or forced to stay at home. By extension, this dilemma affects parents who have to work and have to now find somewhere or someone to keep their children,” he said.
“This vexing problem which confronts the Ministry of Education is partly created by the inefficiency of the Ministry of Works; since they are responsible for the repairs of our schools. The Minister of Works has to share the blame because his Ministry has also fallen down on the job.”
Minister of Works Bradley Roberts, who endorsed the views of Mr Sears, scoffed at Mr Stuart’s remarks saying, “There’s no big deal to Mr Stuart calling for the minister’s resignation.”
Mr Stuart explained that it was unacceptable that the two ministries could not collaborate to get the schools ready in time after all these years.
By: MINDELL SMALL, The Nassau Guardian
