Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is calling on the Ministries of Education and National Security, as well as the relevant Police authorities, to ensure that all primary schools in the crime hot spot areas are given special security for this year’s SEA exams.
She said this includes police patrols and even police guards if deemed necessary, since students in these areas deserve to write these crucial exams in mental and physical comfort and safety as much as their counterparts throughout the country, to have an equal chance of progress in their academic pursuits.
She stated in a release that this year, given the unprecedented crime and violence wave that has engulfed Trinidad and Tobago, many students in schools in crime hot spots have been forced to endure trauma as gang warfare and rampant criminality persist outside their school doors in broad daylight.
Just one month ago, on February 19, 2024, a man was murdered outside of the Gloster Lodge Moravian Primary School in Belmont at 9.10 am, leaving students and staff traumatised to this day.
On Thursday March 21, 2024, thousands of primary school students across Trinidad and Tobago are scheduled to sit the annual Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) Exams.
The Opposition Leader wished all those sitting the exams the best and urged all parents to remember that whatever secondary school their child is placed in, he or she will continue to excel once given the continued support and love they need in their crucial teenage years.