IT is certainly an embarrassing situation when the very youth that we all champion as being the future leaders put us all to shame when they defiantly tell us that the school plant itself is not conducive to their learning experience.
The recent student uproar at Choiseul Secondary School is no precedent as far as students being disenchanted with the dilapidated edifices passing for learning institutions in Saint Lucia. The media has an extensive archive of the inhumane conditions our schoolchildren have had to endure for years.
It is a tough call for any government these days to ante up resources to fund school rehabilitation projects. Or so we continue to hear them say. However, these young learning minds are often witnesses to pricey, empty administrative buildings and other white elephants reach for the sky while they are left haplessly to contend with vermin-infested structures, broken furniture and leaking roofs. That is totally unacceptable.
While the blame game continues between political parties as to who dropped the proverbial ball in remedying the situation at Choiseul Secondary that has begged for a cure for years, our students are often left to think that nothing will ever get done until they openly shame government officials. That need not be the case.
While the government continues to espouse that the future development of our country rests in the hands of today’s young generation, it cannot on the other hand rob schoolchildren of the best learning experience they deserve. Students must be made to feel that they matter and that their dignity is respected.
The students of Choiseul Secondary School must be applauded for raising their voices and bringing their unpleasant situation to the fore. This must also serve as a good example to them that when government fails to act, the people must speak out. Sometimes it takes a situation like this that has gone out of control for people to act out and regain whatever respect and control they might have lost.