by Curlan Campbell, NOW Grenada
- Grade 6 students to attend school from Tuesday 30 April
- Collapse of the school’s water tank and its platform part of infrastructure challenges
- Ministry of Education unable to be reached for comment
On the first day of school after the Easter holiday, students of the St Andrew’s Methodist School were asked to remain at home. This was considered necessary following concerns for the infrastructure of the school which has prompted authorities to allow only Grade 6 students to attend school from today, Tuesday, 30 April.
“Some steps have been put into place to accommodate the students that will be doing the CPEA and we are… really hoping that this problem will not persist for very long. However, as I noted, we are currently making some plans to accommodate the students,” said Reverend Sylbert Prescod, manager of all Methodist schools in Grenada.
This announcement follows an on-site visit from engineers from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, Public Utilities, Energy, Transport & Implementation, on Monday, 29 April together with Reverend Prescod to assess the school’s infrastructure after the collapse of the school’s water tank and its platform.
“We are concerned that there are some infrastructure challenges and ones which would have manifested over the weekend, in which the structure that housed the water tank collapsed and would have caused disruptions to the water supply and minor damage to part of the property,” he said.
Parents with children below Grade 6 level are asked to remain on standby for further information regarding when their children can return to school. Reverend Prescod said it is still unclear as to how long it will take to ensure that the school’s infrastructure is safe for students to return. “What we are most concerned about is the safety of the children and I think that is the reason for suspending school for most of the students. However, we are hoping to work with the ministry and all involved to bring some resolution to the problem.”
The Ministry of Education was unable to be reached for comment.