BY NEWSDAY REPORTER Friday, September 5 2008

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ON CALL: Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar uses her cellphone to contact an Education Ministry school's supervisor to get answers about the conditions...

SIPARIA MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar has vowed to take the plight of pupils attending St Brigid’s Girls’ RC School to the Parliament today as she called on Education Minister Esther Le Gendre to intervene.

Three days into the new school term, parents kept their girls home as they continued their protest outside the school’s compound.

Persad-Bissessar, a former Education Minister, asked, “Are the children of the St Brigid’s Girls’ RC forgotten?”

She assured frustrated parents she will take their pleas for a new school to the Parliament today.

As she spoke to parents, Persad-Bissessar read from a letter she wrote to the Education Minister about the conditions at the St Brigid’s Girls’ RC School.

“Madame minister I ask for your urgent intervention in this matter and a speedy resolve to the situation,” she read.

Over 500 pupils, including infants, are housed in a prefabricated building on the school’s compound while another prefabricated building is still to be built four years after a new school was promised.

The pupils are forced to use two makeshift outdoor toilets. Standard Five pupils attend classes at the St Brigid’s Church.

Persad-Bissessar said a more proactive approach was needed to solve the problem.

As she spoke to parents, the Siparia MP made two attempts to contact a school’s supervisor attached to the Education Ministry. She got no reply and left a voice message.

PTA president Declan Hive described the temporary classrooms as a “poultry farm” and said they were cramped.

He also said there were numerous injuries at the school because of the poor conditions.

Parents plan to continue their protests until they get some answers from the Education Ministry.