The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

STUDENTS at Hugh Campbell Primary School in Freeport will be moved out of their school next week while damaged underground electrical wiring that knocked out the school’s power is repaired, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said, after parents complained that families had been told nothing about the outage.

Students were dismissed early at 1pm on Thursday and are scheduled to be dismissed early again on Friday.

In a statement, the ministry said repairs would begin once the necessary materials arrive and are expected to take about a week. It said students would be temporarily relocated to minimise the loss of instructional time, and parents and guardians would receive details of the arrangements through the school’s administration.

“The ministry is working closely with the relevant technical teams to expedite repairs and restore full electrical service as quickly as possible,” the statement said.

The ministry apologised for the inconvenience and thanked parents, guardians, teachers and the wider school community for their patience.

The statement came after The Tribune reported that the Mahogany Street school had been without electricity for two straight days this week. A parent who wrote to The Tribune said they discovered the outage while dropping their child off on two consecutive mornings, and that parents had not been officially notified.

The parent said classrooms without power lacked proper lighting and ventilation. While unforeseen problems happen, the parent said, families should not be kept uninformed about them.

“When this becomes a repeated issue, parents deserve some communication and reassurance that the matter is being addressed,” the parent wrote. “Our children’s education, safety, and well-being must remain a priority.”

When The Tribune visited the school on Wednesday, there was still no power. The administration office doors had been propped open, apparently to let air into the building. Classes had not been dismissed, and students were outside for lunch.

The school’s principal was not on campus that day. Education officials who were contacted said the Director of Education would issue a statement.

The outage comes amid wider frustration over power problems at government schools since classes resumed in September. Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Chester Cooper has called outages “an inconvenience”. He has said the ministry does not immediately send students home when the power goes off, but tries to continue instruction.

Opposition deputy leader Shanendon Cartwright has repeatedly demanded to know what contingency plan the ministry has to keep schools running during prolonged outages.

Hugh Campbell Primary has lost power before. In June 2014, it was among 18 public schools in Grand Bahama disconnected by the Grand Bahama Power Company over more than $1m in unpaid government bills, before the Ministry of Finance settled the debt.