by Donella Hosten
Students of the Bishop’s College took to the streets of Hillsborough, Carriacou, in protest on Tuesday, 14 March.
The students’ protests was a result of the cancellation of their annual Inter Secondary sports field events which were scheduled for Monday 13 and Wednesday 15 March, where the two secondary schools on the island get a chance to compete against each other.
On Monday, 13 March 2017, the students and staff of Bishop’s College and the officials for the field events gathered at the Hillsborough Recreation Ground. However, their competitors from Hillsborough Secondary did not show up. Ms Quamina stated that after waiting for an hour and a half, her team and athletes left the grounds and returned to the school.
The Principal confirmed that some of her students took to the streets in protest on Tuesday morning. However, she was unable to say if they were joined by students from the other school.
When probed whether meetings were held after Monday’s boycott by Hillsborough Secondary, a hesitant Ms Quamina declined to comment further.
Efforts made to contact Hillsborough Secondary School to get their side of the story were futile. NOW Grenada was instructed to refer all questions pertaining to the matter to the Chairman of the Athletics Committee, Mr Dexter Leggard.
When contacted, Mr Leggard said although he has no problem with speaking about what happened, he thinks the situation has been blown overboard. He said he does not want to make the situation any worse, therefore he wished not to make any further comments.
Sources have stated that this is not the first time something like this happened. In 2004 something similar occurred, and the event was put off for about 4 or 5 years.
The students made their presence felt as they displayed placards and chanted “we want sports, we ain’t taking no hold down,” through the streets of Hillsborough.
It was confirmed that this cancellation carries a number of logistic and financial implications. A meeting with the Minister for Carriacou and Petite Martinique Affairs, Hon. Elvin Nimrod, is scheduled to take place this afternoon with the principals from both schools. The meeting will be held at the Hillsborough Resource Centre at 6 pm.
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