There were some teary eyes at Kingstown Preparatory School on Monday, as the new school year began.
Pupils smartly decked out in their new school uniforms and excited for the start of the new school year had their hopes dashed.
They arrived at the school to the smell of paint and construction material in some classrooms and hallways.
A member of the school’s management team told iWitness News that some classrooms had just been painted or were being painted when staff arrived.
The staff members said that the school decided to send home students from Grades 2 to 2.
Kindergarten students and their Grade 1 schoolmates stayed at school for just 90 minutes before their parents and guardian were told to pick them up around 10:30 a.m.
Parents outside the school were frustrated by what they said was a lack of clear information about when the students should return to school.
One parent told iWitness News that she will return with her child on Tuesday, to see if classes are ready to resume in full.
The situation comes although schools in St. Vincent and the Grenadines were closed for 10 weeks for the summer break.
Outside the school, broken and open garbage bins were an eyesore, as well as an apparent health hazard.
The Ministry of Education has not commented on the situation at the school.
Why after TWO MONTHS of being unoccupied are classrooms being painted on the morning that little lungs are to breathe inside of them??!! Maybe you all need a third minister of education. Bunch o’ jokers!