
Faced with the resignation of a Board member and a barrage of questions from many parents and students over the sudden decision to begin rehabilitation works on a large section of Queen’s College, Education Minister Priya Manickchand has turned the issue into a political one and is now blaming the “Granger faction” for the controversy.
On Tuesday, former Magistrate Dawn Cush tendered her resignation from the School Board citing the disruption of the student population with little notice and the involvement of the Chairman of the Board, Marcel Gaskin, in the project as a consulting engineer.
Cush said her concerns were met with a tongue lashing from fellow Board Member Pauline Chase, who berated her about where she is in life and informed her that she was only on the Board because the Chairman begged for her to be there.
In response to the resignation letter, Education Minister Priya Manickchand took to her Facebook page at 10pm on Tuesday to declare that there is a Granger faction at the school that is against the project. Her reference to Granger faction is believed to a reference to former President David Granger, who is an old student of the school, but who left office as President more than four years ago.
Manickchand in her statement indicated that her Ministry was professionally advised that the building is seriously compromised and unsafe for children’s occupation.
She said once the Ministry learnt of that, it commissioned a drawing, went to public tender in the newspapers and on the worldwide web and an award was made by Tender Board.

She said once the award was made, stakeholders were briefed, adding that there could have been no briefing before the contract award was issued
The Minister said a well attended parent meeting had no issues with the plans. However, a number of parents raised concern at the meeting and across social media about the sudden plan to rip down the west wing of the school and rebuild it at the start of a new school term. Many of them have said that they felt blindsided by the move, since there was no indication of any issue with the wing and there had been no known plan to start works on the section. The works are expected to last for several months.
The Education Minister said wished that the matter was addressed during the Granger administration.
The Granger administration was in power for five years and left office over four years ago. It was Manickchand who served as the Education Minister under the previous PPP Government and who has been serving in the position since 2020.
There are concerns being raised about the award of the contract to A. Ograsein and Sons, with the School Board Chairman serving as the consulting engineer.
The contractor has been involved in a number of other major school contracts, including the contract to build a new Christ Church Secondary and the contract to build a new St. Mary’s School.
In cases where the company has not landed the main construction contract, it has still found itself being given contracts for other works during the construction phase of the contract.
Meanwhile, Minister Manickchand has denied reports that her husband is linked to the QC contract.
She said her husband was asked to offer advice in his capacity as an old student to the Board for free on the general safety to the school including signage for exits and fire extinguisher placement.
The Minister claims that her husband was asked if he would voluntarily train the teachers about safety practices during the construction. She said he did not have the time for that, but offered the services of another volunteer to assist.
She also said she does not see any conflict of interest with the School Board Chairman being hired to supervise engineering works during the construction works at the country’s top school.
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