Member of Parliament for Couva North Ravi Ratiram has called on government to put measures in place to better protect children and their belongings.
This after electronic items all designated as prizes for a school raffle were stolen from a primary school in the Couva North constituency.
In a release on Friday, Ratiram said: “The two most recent criminal attacks on schools in the Couva North constituency are indicative of the growing lack of preventative care that this PNM government has for protecting the citizens of this country, and especially our children.”
Following a break in at the Waterloo Hindu Primary School last week, the Orangefield Hindu School was ransacked and pilfered by criminals on Thursday night.
Ratiram said the bandits were able to make off with a number of electronic items, including two laptops, three tablets, a firestick, two drones and a Samsung cell phone, all meant to be prizes in a raffle being conducted by the school.
He said: “These two break-ins are only the last in a long list of schools who have been robbed in the past months, including the Cunupia Secondary and Reform Hindu School, demonstrating the lack of a response by the Government in dealing with this crime spree.”
“If in fact the current security apparatus is not sufficient to deal with the increase in crime at our nation’s schools, I therefore call upon the Ministers of Education, National Security and Local Government to use our Community Policing Units and Municipal Police to supplement the current security force monitoring these compounds.”
The MP also called for an increase in police patrols, especially at the end of the school day to ensure the protection of these schools and their students who are also under attack in instances of bullying and other petty crimes.
Ratiram added: “As children are truly our future, we must ensure their protection now, so that they can achieve their full learning potential and help build and develop our nation, as they grow older.