Opposition Member of Parliament, Natasha Singh- Lewis, who overlooks the education sector for the APNU+AFC Opposition has decried the move by the Ministry of Education to have tents erected in some schools to accommodate students because of overcrowding.

On Monday as Grade Seven students turned out for their classes, some schools were faced with the problem of finding additional space to accommodate the increased number of students.

The Education Ministry said schools and their Parent Teachers Association were consulted. Military styled tents were set up at some schools to tackle the overflow.

However, the Opposition believes the Ministry of Education should have been better prepared. 

“The PPP’s incompetence, negligence and the lack of careful planning have resulted in this unfortunate situation. It has also manifest the extent to which the physical infrastructure of our schools has deteriorated,” Lewis said during an Opposition press conference today.

The Minister of Education Priya Manickchand  has explained that the decision to erect the tents was made after consultations with parents at the affected schools.

MP Singh-Lewis said it would be better to rent buildings to accommodate the students rather than to have them under the tents.

“To compound an already unacceptable situation, student are being placed in tents that are grossly inadequate in lighting and ventilation. This is being done in extremely hot conditions a clear violation of the non-academic standard of the Ministry of Education,” Singh-Lewis said.

The Minister of Education has also indicated that the overcrowding issue is an indication that more students are now returning to school. But the Opposition MP is contending that the situation is as a result of the Ministry being completely ill-prepared.

“This incompetence has manifested itself in the form of inadequate furniture, over-crowding, non-functioning sanitary blocks for the teachers and students, insufficient class room space, lack of printed materials for teachers and insufficient fund for classroom aid,” Singh said.

Tents have been erected at a number of secondary schools to deal with the overflow.  Some of the tents are fully air-conditioned. 

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