TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO-EDUCATION: Aging Schools Create Concern

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Wesley Gibbings

PORT OF SPAIN, Jan 15 1996 (IPS) - The 1996 national budget has prescribed an improved role for the country’s education system, but many are contending that the poor state of the physical plant in the sector renders it virtually incapable of delivering the goods. Finance Minister Brian Kuei Tung made it clear in last week’s budget presentation that to stimulate and encourage sustainable and equitable development, the coalition government would “upgrade existing (national) institutions which will ensure the delivery of improved and efficient services.” The head of the country’s teachers’ union, Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), is hoping the recently- installed United National Congress (UNC)/National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) coalition is serious. Anthony Garcia says he has heard it all before and he will oppose any plan that will not substantially change the situation. The reality is that, not unlike other Caribbean territories, education infrastructure in this twin-island state has been subject to what one observer describes as “benign official neglect.” Horror stories abound. Every summer, for example, vagrants take up residence at the Woodbrook Presbyterian School situated in a middle class Port of Spain suburb.

The Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) there has been leading the fight for some years now to bring the school building and the wall surrounding it back to some reasonable state of repair and so avoid this kind of multi-purpose use of the school building. The new school term opened Jan. 8 with the same old problems even after a number of fund-raising events organised by the school PTA. Such organisations have been playing a special role in the education system for many years, but many activists are contending that an unfairly large burden is being placed on them. “There’s only so much a PTA can do,” says Junior Thomas, president of the Woodbrook PTA. At Fatima Roman Catholic in Curepe, nine kilometres east of Port of Spain, a New Year’s Day earthquake widened a crack in the southern wall of the school building intensifying fears that it may fall and injure the children. The denominational schools, like their state-operated counterparts, rely almost exclusively on government subventions to maintain their infrastructure. There are now 23 schools, housing over 16,000 students, identified by the Ministry of Education as requiring urgent attention. Education Minister Dr Adesh Nanan is keenly aware of the problem of dilapidated schools but he believes the various communities via the work of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) will have to take more responsibility for the management of the problems confronting school buildings. “We believe there should be a community effort to help schools,” Nanan said, with obvious reference to one recommendation of a recent Task Force Report on the Education System. Garcia agrees that while the community has a part to play in the maintenance of the schools, the state cannot abdicate its responsibilities in such a critical area. “Of course the NGOs have a part to play,” he says, “but in terms of funding I don’t know how much we can rely on the NGOs.” “Education is the responsibility of the government,” he adds. “In many schools the PTAs are being seen as agents of fund- raising activities but there is a limit to which these funds can be raised.” He argues that if that were to be the official approach, then schools located in richer neighbourhoods will get more attention as the PTAs would be able to access larger sums of money.

“If we rely on the communities to raise funds, we will have an imbalance,” Garcia says. A plan for community development proposed by the 1986-1991 NAR administration was shot down by the unions and NGOs for precisely the same reason.

The government also has plans to spend – in concert with the World Bank – close to 20 million U.S. dollars on more than 50 schools in 1996. Last year, a 12 million dollar investment programme for the education sector focused heavily on the upgrading of school buildings and related infrastructure. Just over 2.5 million dollars was also spent on construction works at seven primary and secondary schools throughout Trinidad and the smaller island of Tobago. Additionally, a supplementary programme involving the refurbishment of 174 schools (89 primary and 85 secondary) at a cost of 3.5 million dollars was pursued last year by the previous Peoples National Movement administration.

There are many who however contend that financial allocations notwithstanding there is very little about which to rejoice. School children still court danger when they attend classes. They have to deal with non-functioning toilets, defective water systems, falling walls and rotted floor boards.

The problem with Trinidad’s schools date back to the 1970s when the emphasis was on increasing the number of secondary school places. Daunted by a rapidly growing high school population almost 20 years ago, the govermment undertook a massive school construction programme.

The programme gave little thought to maintaining the existing school plants. The result, says Garcia, is that mainly primary schools now bear the brunt of the infrastructural problems in the education system.