Ministry should correct situation at New Amsterdam Secondary School immediately

Dear Editor,

I would like to thank concerned parent Mr Orlando Fraser for his brave efforts to register his dissatisfaction about the current state of the New Amsterdam Secondary School (NASS). As the former chairman of the Board of Governors of the NASS I am in receipt of a letter for the transfer of a current teacher to Vrymens Secondary School. However, the letter appears to have been disregarded and the person continues to be in school. The dissatisfaction of the parents continues to be a major concern and in order to correct this we urged that the Ministry of Education and the School Board Secretariat act immediately.  Recently after the board’s life came to an end in April 2017, the said teacher together with the national PTA coordinator changed the canteen arrangements, and gave the management of the canteen to the PTA. There has been a lot of mismanagement in the school.

I remember that there was a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) led by Mr Ed Caesar, which was established by President Granger to bring an end to the issues that plagued this school, among other things, but to date as in the case of the other CoIs nothing has been done.

I told Mr Caesar from the beginning of my presentation that this was another waste of time and nothing would change, but he assured members that the President would take steps to correct the situation at the school. However, to date the CoI failed the board, the students, the teachers and the school.

In order to preserve the integrity of the school and to decrease the mental stress on teachers the ministry should act swiftly to correct this situation immediately.

Yours faithfully,

Zamal Hussain

Former Chairman

Board of Governors

New Amsterdam Secondary School