Students of the Brickdam Secondary school will resume classes at the same building from tomorrow, Thursday June 16, 2016 following an agreement between the teachers, parents and Board of Governors of the school today.
During a press conference this afternoon, Chief Education Officer (CEO), Olato Sam noted that this will give the Ministry time to identify a new location to accommodate the school for the new academic year.
Reporters were also privy to a document signed by the teachers, agreeing to function in the building, which has undergone remedial works within the last few days.
The Ministry said it has already begun the process of acquiring land to construct a school to house the Brickdam Secondary School and the Central High School, which is also encountering similar difficulties.
Concerns about both schools were previously raised with former Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand.
Relating the entire situation which led to reports of the school being permanently closed on Tuesday, the CEO stated that it was agreed on Thursday that a meeting will be hosted with the Minister of Education and teachers of the school on Friday, June, 10 , at 10am.
However he noted that the teachers proceeded on a ‘sit in’ before the scheduled meeting, which prompted his visit to the school. The teachers were informed that their actions ran contrary to established procedures since they are yet to formally engage the Ministry.
A meeting was eventually hosted on Friday afternoon where an agreement was an arrived at, that “…immediate issues raised would be addressed by the engineer over the course of the ensuing weekend; the Ministry would devise a plan of action…for the relocation of the school at the new academic year and teachers were asked to complete the term at the current location.”
On June, 13, the head teacher engaged the Ministry to devise strategies to facilitate the completion of the term at the location.
However the teachers maintained that no decision was arrived at and continued their ‘sit in’ on Tuesday, refusing to teach until they were placed in a completely new environment.
Parents of students attending the Brickdam Secondary School on Wednesday threw their support behind students and teachers as they protested the closure of the Brickdam Secondary School by the Ministry of Education.
Shortly after the protest that lasted several hours, discussions were held between teachers and Ministry Officials where they agreed to remain in the building.
