Students should continue education in S. Grenadines, MP says

Students from the hurricane-ravaged Southern Grenadines should continue their education in their various islands rather than in St. Vincent, says MP Terrance Ollivierre.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has said that his government was mulling over building in St. Vincent temporary campuses for students from the Southern Grenadines while their schools are repaired.

The PM’s plan includes bringing at least one of the students’ parents to St. Vincent to accompany the students and housing them in guest houses.

He did not give a timeline of how long the students would be likely to attend school in St. Vincent.

Ollivierre, who is the opposition New Democratic Party’s (NDP) shadow minister for education, told a party press conference in Kingstown on Wednesday that he was particularly worried about students returning to school in the next few months.

He said he supports the NDP initiative that pledged EC$100,000 in bursaries to students affected by the hurricane and asked people to contribute.

“… it is very important that their education continues as uninterrupted as possible though it may be difficult because all the schools in Union Island, Canouan have lost their roofs.

“But it isn’t that terrible in terms of secondary education, that you want to say you’re going to build a school on mainland St. Vincent,” said Ollivierre, who lives in Union Island.

“Whatever temporary you want to build, build it on the islands so that the people would be able to be in a place that is familiar to them and get their lives back together. That is part of the rebuilding process.”

The opposition MP said he had spoken to educators and parents in the Southern Grenadines and they have said that they would like to stay on their islands.

He said the roof blew off of one wing of the Union Island Secondary School where the staff room and a few classrooms are located

“But the other rooms below, which is the library, the office and all of that and the other side of the building where you have most of the classrooms are intact,” he said, adding that they need cleaning and the windows repaired.

“So, the monies that you’re going to spend on the mainland to build a temporary school, these schools [in the Southern Grenadines] can be fixed. And in such cases, as the parents are saying, help them put on the roof as quickly as possible so they can move back into their location.”

Ollivierre, however, said that if the government is going to build a temporary school, it should be built in the Grenadines islands. 

He said that in this way, parents can be working on their island and aiding in the rebuilding while the children are in school.

Ollivierre said some teachers have told him that they rather resign from the service than moving to St. Vincent.

“Some parents saying they’re not doing it; they’re keeping their children where they are. I mean, we can sort this out, we can talk with one another… As I said, let’s get the consultation going. And let’s work out the problem.

“We just can’t say to the people, this happened to you, and this is what we are going to do for you. The people must have a say in what they want.”

Opposition Leader calls for consultation

Opposition Leader Godwin Friday, who is MP for the Northern Grenadines, which includes Bequia, which was impacted by the storm, also spoke at the press conference.

“… I think this is where we talk about inclusiveness and about consultation. Here you have the member for Southern Grenadines, the community affected, nobody reached out to him. Not only that, he is the shadow minister of education, has been for many years.”

Friday said he spoke to the mother of a form 4 girl in Union Island who is opposed to students from the Southern Grenadines being brought to St. Vincent for school.

“… she said if that’s the case, that ain’t gonna happen for her. That ain’t going happen for her daughter. And again, she’s hearing this, these are decisions about your family, your children and who made this assessment that this is what is the optimum solution?” Friday said.

“Who has made any attempt to say to people, this is the better solution, let us try and reason it through. None. Nobody.

“It has just done a high-handed approach that this is what we’re going to do and people just have to accept it.”

Friday said he thinks there needs to be “more inclusiveness, more consultation, and certainly the member for the Southern Grenadines.

“But if they don’t want to talk to him, at least talk to the parents. These are the people who are going to be affected,” the opposition leader said of the government.

Meanwhile, Ollivierre said the rebuilding of homes is extremely important and urged as many individuals, companies and organisations as possible to contribute.

He said he met three government ministers in Mayreau and told them “there is no P down here”, an apparent reference to “party” in the abbreviation of the names of the political parties. 

“What we have is people working together to put their lives back together. And this is what we want right now more than ever: our people working together.

“Whether you are from the mainland or from the Grenadines, let’s work hand-in-hand to give our people the strength and the fight that they need to put the constituency and whatever other parts of St. Vincent that may have been damaged by Hurricane Beryl, put us back in a place where our lives can be as normal as possible.”