Dear Editor
AFTER reading a number of letters in the press regarding Zeeburg Secondary School and the actions of teachers, I wish to highlight a few issues which are cause for great concern amongst parents, students and teachers alike.

Mr. Editor, recently students were barred from participating in career day activities because they did not contribute to the school’s fund-raising activities. These events are held to help students make sound decisions in choosing subject streams and careers that are related; it also serves as an instrument to have students set goals and to motivate them to become meaningful contributors in society.

The act of the teachers of Zeeburg Secondary School is a clear case of discrimination against students who are poor and simply cannot afford the large sums of monies that these teachers squander on security cameras, expensive food and pastries supplied by the head teacher at exorbitant prices and a particular teacher who is also the school’s photographer. Can you imagine on sales day students are asked to pay $800 for a lunch and $160 for a Trill, when at the Madina Restaurant you can get a lunch and a Trill for far less?

The head teacher uses her office to run a very lucrative cook house while at the same time demanding and squeezing monies from parents to sustain this new industry at Zeeburg Secondary School. Fifth Form students were told that if they don’t pay up, they will not be writing mock exams; how stupid can someone be to purchase security cameras worth close to $1,000,000 and can’t afford to execute their primary function of curriculum delivery. Are they running a security firm, or a correctional facility?

The school’s uniform is now being changed from green to a new green of the HM’s preference and students are forced to remove their socks if they are not black — a most unhealthy practice. Certain ethnic groups are being targeted because of their hair and told to cut it low at the discretion of the head teacher. They are suspended and sent home from school for up to three days and parents are notified when they have been already

punished. It is obvious that her level of care for children and the development of their intellects are unacceptable; teachers are there to help our students and not to break them, not to treat them as prisoners, not to abuse them and make unreasonable demands of them for financial gain and publicly humiliate parents and students for not being able to act on the demands. Students’ names were printed on a board at the last PTA meeting for a raffle sheet which as a parent I had no idea was given to my child. My child reported that at the assembly, threats were made to have the names of students posted on the internet by the head teacher and then sing Jesus loves her. As a parent we cannot voice our concerns, since the head teacher and other staff label our children; they are barred from school activities such as field trips, career day, work studies etc., our children are being targeted “ For a few Dollars More.”

Mr Editor, at the last cleaning exercise, students were seen climbing and clinging to walls of the school; in fact, one female student wearing her Muslim head dress was wiping the ventilation bricks some 13 feet off the ground (a picture has been included). How can the Ministry of Education preach about the safety of our children under their care when these acts are done in schools without parents’ approval? I can say this: I have never received any slip requesting my consent for my child to participate in any cleaning exercise.

Certain religious groups are marginalised. Recently, the three main religious organisations were invited before school was reopened to have a day of prayer, but on the first day of school when the population was at its high, the head teacher had a worship session at the school assembly and no other religious group was invited to pray or even sing a Bhajan or recite a prayer This head teacher is trying to impose her religious beliefs on others. It was also reported at the PTA meeting that the Ministry of Education and the welfare department are in support of all the issues I have highlighted, so how are we the parents to get justice for our sons and daughters when we become victims for standing up for our rights. The nonsense at Zeeburg Secondary School must stop.
Regards
Concerned Parent