Students lobby for facelift

LAST YEAR, hundreds of fed-up St George Secondary students complained about the deplorable condition of the bathrooms.

A year later, head girl Destany Arthur and public relations officer of the Students’ Council, Nikisha Carlton, are happy their lobbying led to a facelift, inclusive of freshly-painted walls, three new water tanks and improved bathroom facilities.

“The conditions were not up to standard and I felt that if I had to use the bathrooms, I would rather hold it in until I was ready to go home. I knew if the students did not talk about it, this would go unaddressed.

“So I pushed it on the Students’ Council and with the help of the teachers and the principal, it went forward,” Carlton said.
They were able to get about 500 signatures before the matter went to principal Dennis Browne, who passed it on to the Ministry of Education.

An ecstatic Arthur said the students of the Constant, St George school felt energised by the brighter surroundings and were seen taking pictures. 
“Honestly, the school is not the building; it’s the students. But when people came to the school they only focused on the negative and the school is not negative, it’s a really good school,”she said.

Arthur encouraged fellow students to keep their surroundings clean.
“Sometimes I clean the classroom to take [the] load off janitors because they get tired just like we do. We need to show the people outside that you love your school by not damaging it,” she added.

Browne, who thanked the ministry for the intervention, said all the blame should not be placed on the students as this was the first time the bathrooms were improved since the school opened over 40 years ago.

St George Secondary has a roll of more than 600 students. (TG)