BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – EDUCATION MINISTER the Hon. Shawn Richards and Principal of the Basseterre High School (BHS) Ron Collins have both refuted allegations made by former Minister of Health Hon. Marcella Liburd that students of the BHS are being pushed from venue to venue because of politics.
An email, headlined “BHS scandal gets stinker”, sent to this media house by the former Prime Minister’s Press Secretary, Erasmus Williams, stated that “not even cargo is moved around like how Prime Minister Timothy Harris, Education Minister Shawn Richards and Principal/Teachers Union President Ron Collis are treating students of the Basseterre High School”.
The email was referring to allegations made by Liburd during last Wednesday’s (Nov. 4) ‘Issues’ programme on Freedom FM 106.5.
The email stated that the Parliamentary Representative of Constituency Two said: “The Basseterre High School issue is a full blown scandal.”
Reading from a letter, purportedly sent to parents of First Formers, whose classes are being held at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium and the PAM Tyson Netball Complex, the email stated that “their classes are again disrupted as regional cricket will be played at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium from November 4th to 9th”.
“Today Wednesday the students have been moved to the Old Basseterre Girls School and told to bring a book and a pen and that school uniform should be worn.
“On Thursday, the students will have regular class sessions upstairs Premier Dental Center at Taylors Range and are required to take books for Thursday’s Time Table subjects and school uniform should be worn,” the email quoted Liburd reading from the letter.
It further stated that there was no information of where the BHS Fifth Formers who are housed in the Premier Dental Building would have classes.
The St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party’s Chairperson also said: “If this is not a scandal I do not know what is, when you have school there that is available for the children to go in and do their work. They are now been pushed from venue to venue on a daily basis, just because of politics. This is one biggest scandal we have had to do with the Basseterre High School.”
Contacted for a comment on the allegations, Minister Richards said: “Those who have now found some false love for the students and teachers of Basseterre High are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites.”
Richards, who is also the Federation’s Deputy Prime Minister, claimed that the Labour Party had the opportunity to rectify the BHS’s situation while in office, but they did nothing to help and “that is why the people rejected them and placed them where they are”.
He however admitted that the First Formers had to be temporarily relocated to facilitate a regional cricket match at the Warner Park Stadium, but stressed that classes were not disrupted.
“Classes were not disrupted because the children had gone to the Old Girls School; they were still being accommodated. It is not like Marcella and the others who tried to send back the children to the Basseterre High School where they were affected by health issues and had to be going to doctors on a constant basis rather than being in classes.”
The Minister said the children were at the Old Girls School for only two days; Wednesday and Thursday.
In relation to the children not having classes on Friday, he explained that because of the cricket match, the school’s administrators had brought forward one of the annual sports events.
He informed that there would be no classes for the entire school today (Nov. 9).
“On Monday the school is having its staff’s Professional Development Day and that is on the calendar for all schools annually. Customary, when the schools are having their Professional Development Day there is no school for any of the students. So there is nothing unusual about what is happening on Monday.”
SKNVibes also contacted Collins and he too debunked the allegations and offered explanations for the temporary relocation of the students.
“Because there was a regional event here and we did not have access to the Park, it was very convenient for us to put all those events on so that we can have them taking place. It’s nothing that is new, but it is true that the area was being used, and so it was not available to Basseterre High.
“Fortunately for us, there were events on the First Form calendar that were easy for us to actually put in this part for the entire school programme.”
Collins explained that on Wednesday the First Formers were housed at the Old Girls School for the Youth Development session, where various things were discussed as part of the school’s transition programme.
“We have a high school transition programme that runs that way; so it was not a problem with First Formers because that was already scheduled,” he added.
The Principal also explained what occurred last Wednesday and Thursday, pointing out that in no way were the Fifth Formers in a disadvantaged position.
“On Thursday, the Fifth Formers were at their annual ACE Conference. ACE is the acronym for Academic Competence in Exam. It is an event to help them deal with their performance in examination skills and to prepare them for success in June. It begins as early as that! Therefore, the building was not occupied and it was used to accommodate the First Formers for that day only.
“And on Friday, because the Park was not available to us, we brought forward one of the sporting events, which is the Sports Day, and we allow them to participate. So all we did was shuffle things that were already on the academic programme for the First Form.”
Like the Minister of Education, Collins informed that there would be no school on Monday and offered an explanation for its closure.
“On Monday, the Basseterre High School will be closed completely because the teachers are having their annual Professional Development Day. It will be held at NEMA and, so whenever it is done, the school will be closed. We were transparent to have written to the parents and I have nothing to hide. That is why I wrote to them and advised that the Warner Park facility would not be available, we will be re-juggling some things in order to ensure that we do not fall behind any programme and we are not sending home any children.
“It was regrettable that we had to come out of the area, but we were able to use other facilities in order not to lose any contact time. The same programmes that are on the calendar, we were able to shuffle them and have them done to ensure we can have the children in school doing what they were already scheduled to do within the school year.”
Collins declared that as Principal of the Basseterre High School, he would not get involved “in the fray of the politics” but he and his staff are going to remain responsible for the management of the school and to the parents and let them know what is happening at the learning institution.
