SOME 30 schools were affected by vandalism just prior to the resumption of the academic school year and the Government has considered an “obvious connection” between such and recent opposition/media attacks on the education sector.
“For Cabinet, a case has been made. That connection is real,” Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon said yesterday.

Speaking at his usual post-Cabinet media briefing, in the Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive,  Georgetown, he observed that unkempt schoolyards and the destruction of school facilities form part of the “evidence” that facilitates the connection.
More specifically, there was destruction of piping leading to and from septic tanks and pipes, as well as breaking of mains, etc, Luncheon said.
According to him, noteworthy is the fact that majority of the schools affected fall under Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) that are controlled by the Opposition. Coupled with that was the actual refusal of the NDC authorities to prepare school compounds for the commencement of classes as of last Monday.
“Who benefits?” Luncheon asked and he answered: “Certainly not the students.”
“It is now the parents; it is now the students whose voices must be heard?” he asked.

STUDENTS AFFECTED
Among the students affected by the vandalism are those, whose performances at the 2013 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Academic Proficiency Examination (CAPE) exams have been lamented by the Opposition, Dr Luncheon said.
“The insincerity of those who expressed concerns about such performances and contribute to interventions that would impair performances of these same students, that insincerity is exposed by those very actions,” the HPS posited.
Meanwhile, a few days before the start of the new school year, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) called, again, for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the “unsatisfactory performance” of the education sector.
Opposition Leader, David Granger, at an APNU press conference, cited poor learning environments, teacher indiscipline, dropouts and the performance disparity between the public and private schools.
He suggested that the COI deal with determining the reasons for the unsatisfactory results at the CAPE, CSEC, and National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) exams; the obstacles to good education, primarily at the primary and secondary levels, and determining the way forward for higher standards and better results.
Granger had claimed that education is now “in a state of emergency” and that the Government would have to be “wooden-headed” not to take corrective action.