Abandoned St Joseph Sec project overrun by criminals, drug addictsTTUTA: School population suffering at old site

Senior Reporter

akash.samaroo@cnc3.co.tt

Resembling a post-apocalyptic society, what should have been a new facility for students and teachers at the St Joseph Secondary School has now turned into one of their biggest threats.

Located at the back of the school is an abandoned compound, said to have cost almost $100 million, that was supposed to be their new school.

Stripped of most of its metal and overgrown with grass, the compound is now a drug den, hiding place for robbers and a thriving environment for the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

With construction ongoing between 2008 and 2015, features of the buildings still show construction had reached an advanced stage, almost 90 per cent complete according to some teachers. There are remnants of multi-storey classrooms, a sprawling open-air auditorium and a driveway littered with garbage, debris and concrete nails.

Guardian Media was yesterday given an exclusive tour of the facility by T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) members attached to the school and its industrial relations officer.

On exiting our vehicle, an eerie howl came from the depths of one of the buildings.

“I sure you all heard that,” TTUTA staff representative Roger Bostick.

Reading the look on our faces, he said, “No, we are not going in there because we don’t want to disturb the current residents.”

Guardian Media asked if those residents were dangerous?

“Yes, hence the dead body that was found here,” Bostick responded.

A loud snore emanated from one of the concrete unpainted rooms on the ground floor.

Cautious inspection revealed a seminude couple in an embrace sleeping on the floor. The butt of a cigarette and a lighter lay next to them. All of this was happening mere feet from the existing school’s fence.

“So, we have children on one side and criminals on the other,” Bostick said sarcastically.

He said the unauthorised occupants are more than just a mere nuisance, as some of them terrorise the students.

“There have been a number of incidents where students are robbed on various sides. Imagine you’re walking to school and there’s a guy in the bush, who you can’t see, you’re not sure what’s going to happen,” Bostick lamented.

Another staff rep, Andre Pontiflet, said some state employees legitimately believe students, teachers and staff had moved into the new facility.

“The lady from OSH told us plain that she is not coming here because on paper, the new school is OSHA-ready,” Pontiflet said.

With a smile, he added, “Despite the Jumanji look, they keep saying they’re not spending any money on the old school because we have the new one.”

Meanwhile, Bostick said no one is making a fuss about their situation because they aren’t as ‘prestigious’ as St George’s College.

“If you have any sort of empathy for the people in here you will know what is going on here but clearly the powers that be do not care, clearly,” he cried.

He said several overtures were made to the Education Ministry to no avail.

“We’ve been begging, give us the minimum, give us a little gate to stop people from coming in here, you all see the state of the driveway here, and we can’t get a gate? We can’t get a crew to at least clean the fence line?” he asked incredulously.

During our conversation, a shabbily dressed man walked by. Inquiring why we were there, the man then complained about the tall grass and stagnant water pooling on the compound.

“Somebody needs to come and spray here, look at mosquitoes around here,” he said.

Even with the naked eye, mosquito larvae could be seen thriving in some of the still water.

The situation comes at a time when the area’s own MP and Minister of Health, Terrence Deyalsingh, is pleading with people to clean up their surroundings or face a fine.

With the chatter of children in the air as the school broke for lunch, TTUTA IRO Kevyn Kerr said some staff and students were exhibiting dengue-like symptoms.

“We had a staff member at the school, a pregnant lady, and she had dengue-like symptoms. We see how serious it is with dengue in the country, and we have teachers getting sick and they won’t take care of the area to protect the teachers and children,” Kerr complained.

He asked Guardian Media to use its platform to plead for the Education Minister’s intervention.

Kerr said he does not like to involve himself in politics but complained, “If the previous administration built a school for you and it is 90 per cent complete and the government change, you shouldn’t just scrap it, because it supposed to be about the children and not the previous regime.”

Contacted yesterday, former Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh said he remembered the project. He said when the People’s Partnership came into office in 2010, the school, formerly named Curepe Junior Secondary, was only five per cent completed and after spending close to $100 million, it was brought to 95 per cent completion. He claimed all that remained to do was minor work to the air conditioning units. However, he said the PP lost the election in 2015 and the incoming PNM Government abandoned the project, like they did with the Mt Hope Secondary School, where parents also protested on Monday.

And even with the threat of the dilapidated facility on its outskirts, Kerr reminded that the existing school is no paradise either.

In fact, the initial purpose of Guardian Media’s visit to the school was to investigate a shaky guard rail on the third floor of one of the school’s classroom blocks.

Kerr listed out the other issues.

“We have frequent fluctuations with electricity and several of the breakers trip off and we have situations arising where you can’t use two or more electrical devices at the same time or the power will trip off. We have no power in many of the classes.”

He added, “Water went in the school yesterday and they had to dismiss the school early. This school has four thousand-gallon tanks and could not use any of the water from it because once you put on the pump it will trip off the breaker.”

Guardian Media sought a response from Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly but she did not immediately respond to our questions.

We also attempted to talk to the school’s principal but was told by a guard that there was a process to do so which could not be completed yesterday.

The post Abandoned St Joseph Sec project overrun by criminals, drug addictsTTUTA: School population suffering at old site first appeared on CNC3.