Possible delayed start of school, NRP Claims Education Minister is incompetent
(ZIZ)– With two days remaining before the start of the 2014-2015 academic school year, members of Nevis’ opposition party, the Nevis Reformation Party [NRP], are claiming that the island’s largest secondary school will not be ready to be opened at the start of the new academic year. They have blamed Nevis’ Premier and Minister of Education for allowing this to occur.
During Thursday night’s edition of “Tell Me”, hosted by Opposition Senator, the Honourable Carlisle Powell, the claim was made that the Charlestown Secondary School, one of two public secondary schools on Nevis, was still undergoing maintenance work and would not be ready for Monday’s scheduled opening.
He said the delayed work was a result of misplaced priorities on the part of the government.
“I am told that the Charlestown Secondary School, for one, might not be ready for another seven days so they will lose seven days of the school term because of carelessness, because this Vance Amory-led government is rudder-less, because Vance Amory as the Minister of Education don’t care if Monday comes on a Sunday. Nothing bothers him so, at this time, we know that Charlestown Secondary School, only if there is a miracle, will open on the first day of the term,” he told the listening audience.
Powell then expressed concern that a delayed opening of the school will cause students to be set back.
“In Nevis, when Vance Amory as Minister of Education declares that the Charlestown Secondary School and maybe the Gingerland Secondary School will be open a week late, there are no makeup days, none whatsoever. So your children and my children, some of them are not as sharp as the other children, they need all those days. The teachers need the days to teach our children. Since there are no makeup days when this vagabond Vance Amory says seven days the school will be late because people who should have been working at Charlestown Secondary to get the school ready were down at Herbert’s Beach working to knock up a whole Culturama Village out there for zouk fest, there are no makeup days. They just tell the children stay home for an extra week while we do what should have been done during the vacation. I mean, this really bothers me.”
On Friday, the Education Ministry on Nevis issued a correspondence which stated that both the Charlestown and Gingerland Secondary Schools will not reopen until September 4th, citing ongoing repairs as the reason for the decision.
The release noted that “teachers are however asked to report to duty on Monday 1st September as previously planned,” adding that “the Ministry of Education regrets this delay in the re-opening of the two schools but this decision was made due to the need to complete necessary repairs to ensure that the environment at the schools is satisfactory for our students and teachers.”