Secretary of Education, Research and Technology Assemblyman Zorisha Hackett has confirmed that of the 57 schools in Tobago, 56 will be opened on Monday after undergoing intense repair works in the weeks gone by.
Speaking at the THA’s media briefing on Friday, Hackett noted however that despite being opened, it does not necessarily mean that everything is complete as she explained that the works were categorised in high, medium, and low priority. She explained that high priority would usually deal with ceilings, plumbing and electrical works while medium and low priority would not affect the reopening of schools.
“As a Division, we are going to continue dealing with those issues as we progress throughout the academic year. We are not going to risk the safety of our students so these works will not occur on evenings,” she assured.
She said the issues will be treated with on weekends and low priority would be dealt with during the Christmas vacation period. Hackett assured that repairs will continue throughout the year and starting next week, routine maintenance will begin with the introduction of an artisan team comprising of technical staff who will be dealing with air-conditioning, plumbing and general maintenance services.
“Persons with the necessary skills will be employed by the Division to treat with this because we do not want to end up in a scenario where we constantly have to wait on a school repair program once a year, instead of routinely maintaining our parts.”
Of the 12 ECCE schools, 36 Primary schools and 9 Secondary schools on the island, Hackett said unfortunately only the Scarborough Secondary school would remain closed.
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