Only 5 students attending Union Island Secondary in Arnos Vale

The population at the temporary campus of the Union Island Secondary School (UISS) in Arnos Vale has dwindled to five, down from 13 at the beginning of the school year on Sept. 2.

iWitness News understands that students at the school are demotivated, with some of them using YouTube to teach themselves, as many of the teachers had been transferred to other schools ahead of the new school year.

What’s more, the Ministry of Education has transferred the school’s principal back to Union Island, as most of the students had returned to the campus there.

In September 2024, secondary and primary school students from Union Island were offered the option to attend classes at the former Teachers College compound in Arnos Vale, which the government had rehabilitated for that purpose, after Hurricane Beryl devastated the Southern Grenadines on July 1, 2024.

Some of the students took classes in Arnos Vale, as their homes had been devastated by the storm, while others returned to their campus in Union Island.

The principal had been assigned to the Arnos Vale campus, where most of the students took class during the 2024-2025 academic year, while the deputy was in charge of the permanent campus in Union Island, which had a smaller population. 

Some 30 primary school pupils continue to take classes at the Arnos Vale campus, while only five high school students are enrolled there.

Earlier this month, when 13 students were enrolled at the school, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves suggested that his government would not close the campus and send the students to other secondary schools in St. Vincent because of a promise he had made to the students’ parents.

However, iWitness News was reliably informed that Ministry of Education officials had not been anticipating that UISS students would continue attending classes at the Arnos Vale campus.

Therefore, most of the teachers were transferred back to Union Island or to other schools ahead of the new school year, which began on Sept. 2.

However, after the government announced that it would continue operating the school, Supportive Education and Training (SET) workers, including some with degrees and post-secondary qualifications, were assigned to fill vacancies at the Arnos Vale Campus. 

Some students had complained that the campus did not feel like a school, as they were sitting in the corridors with no teachers coming to provide instructions, one source told iWitness News. 

In his comments earlier this month, Gonsalves said that he wanted to get the final number of students still taking classes at the temporary campus in Arnos Vale.

He said there were 13 students at the secondary school and 33 primary school students at the elementary school.

“We have made a promise that those who are up here, we will keep them as far as possible together, which is what we’re doing,” the prime minister said, noting that some of the students have transferred to other secondary schools in St. Vincent.

”But things have improved sufficiently down in Union Island for large numbers to have gone back, but I’ve given them a promise, even though it’s expensive to keep a school with 13 people, we will see how it goes over the next few weeks and until the end of the term,” Gonsalves said. 

“Some parents may say, ‘Listen, Ralph, leh we put these others in another secondary school.’ But you know, I’m good with the people of the Southern Grenadines, always and it ain’t going change now,” the prime minister said.