As the new school term kicks off across Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, one regional secondary school finds itself at the center of a growing parent-led standoff over unresolved structural and safety hazards that have been festering for nearly a decade. Fyzabad Anglican Secondary School, a campus serving roughly 600 students and 50 staff members, is set to welcome pupils per the Ministry of Education’s official schedule – but how many families will actually send their children through its doors remains an open question, driven by widespread safety concerns shared by the school’s parent community.
Allan Phirangee, president of the school’s Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), laid out the scope of the dangerous conditions plaguing the campus in interviews over the weekend. Two prefabricated classroom buildings and the school’s library have already been officially condemned due to structural failure, yet the school’s current plan calls for holding regular classes in adjacent spaces just meters away from the unsafe structures. That arrangement creates immediate danger for students, Phirangee argued, and shifting all classes out of the condemned zones would only create another hazard: extreme overcrowding in the remaining usable campus space that would also fail to meet basic safety standards.
The PTA’s frustration runs far deeper than a last-minute scheduling issue. Phirangee confirmed that formal requests for major repairs to the condemned structures and other failing infrastructure date all the way back to 2014, with repeated letters sent to the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Public Utilities, the local Member of Parliament, and the Occupational Safety and Health Authority and Agency (OSHA) over the intervening years. While school officials and PTA leaders have pushed for action, the scale of the required reconstruction puts the project firmly under government oversight, leaving parent leaders with no ability to complete the work independently.
Beyond the condemned buildings, the campus faces a litany of additional hazards that put students and staff at risk. Outdated and failing wiring threatens electrical hazards, change rooms are in a state of disrepair, and a wooden ramp used by a wheelchair-using student has loose, unstable boards that create an immediate accessibility risk. Sewer lines and the campus roof are also in urgent need of replacement. One parent, Seeta Bridgelal, went further to outline ongoing pest issues, reporting that bats, rats, snakes, and feral cats and dogs roam the campus, creating health risks. She also noted that widespread rusted furniture has forced her to repeatedly replace her son’s uniforms after they are torn or damaged on the corroded surfaces.
Out of frustration with the slow pace of progress, Phirangee confirmed that many parents are considering keeping their children home on opening day to draw public attention to the government’s failure to follow through on promised repairs. Parents have even called for a temporary full relocation of the student body, and have raised questions about a proposed shift system that has been discussed as a temporary solution, with no clear timeline for implementation.
Phirangee added that approval for the full reconstruction project was granted back in June, with an expectation that all work would be completed during the July-August school vacation to avoid disrupting the new term. That schedule was not met, leaving the school in limbo as term begins.
Officials with the National Maintenance Training Security Company Ltd (MTS), the firm contracted to complete the repairs, acknowledged the issues during a site visit Sunday. Nicholas Kanhai, interim CEO of MTS, confirmed that Fyzabad Anglican Secondary has been added to both the regular vacation repair roster and the emergency repair program. He outlined that three major projects are now in the pipeline: demolition and full reconstruction of the two prefabricated buildings and the library, emergency repairs to the campus sewer system (which is dealing with a failed pump), and renovations to the dilapidated change rooms. Kanhai explained that the company is still finalizing the procurement process for the large reconstruction project, with contractor awards expected by the end of the month, allowing work to begin shortly after.
Emergency repairs to the roof and change rooms were scheduled to begin Sunday, Kanhai said, and roof work is expected to continue through the weekend. He stressed that the ongoing repairs will not prevent the school from opening, and that MTS and contracted firms will put all necessary safety precautions in place to protect students while work proceeds during the school week.
This is not the first school infrastructure controversy to emerge ahead of the new term. Last week, the PTA at Marabella North Secondary School raised similar concerns over unaddressed structural and maintenance failures at their campus. Responding to reporter questions during a tour of another regional school Friday, Education Minister Dr Michael Dowlath reaffirmed that all schools across the country would open on schedule for the new term, noting that while ongoing repairs will continue at multiple campuses, the work will not disrupt the start of classes. Dowlath added that MTS is fully aware of the issues at Fyzabad Anglican Secondary and is actively working to resolve them.