BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS– Will the new Basseterre High School (BHS) constructed on the water table that provide millions of gallons of potable water to the town of Basseterre and its environs?
That is the questioned being asked privately by nationals of St. Kitts and Nevis here and overseas after Education Minister Hon. Shawn Richards announced that the Ponds area has been selected.
“There are questions surrounding the site. We want to know as responsible people whether the proper analysis has been done to ensure that where the BHS is to be built will not encroach on the water table where we get millions of gallons of water to provide to the residents of Basseterre and its environs,” said Maynard, who pointed out that political expediency must not be seen to be of utmost importance.
He recalled the Timothy Harris-led Team Unity Government playing politics with the BHS issue before it took office and subsequently rejecting all the reports from local scientists, the Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health agency (CARPHA), the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute ( CARIRI), also based in Trinidad and the Washington-based National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which recommended that the buildings could be inhabited after remedial works are completed.
Although the reports were rejected the Harris PLP/CCM/PAM Government still removed three buildings from the original site and is using them as classrooms and to house the principal’s office at Taylors.
Desk, chairs, tables and air condition units were also removed and installed at the temporary BHS facility as well, as he Verchild’s High School and other schools.
Maynard again lamented that as a result of the political decision of Prime Minister Harris and his governments to abandon the original BHS location, students have been displaced in cramped temporary facilities and denied adequate home economics, information technology, biology, physics and chemistry labs.
He also lamented that students will move from the first form to the fifth form without enjoying “that wholesome BHS experience” as classrooms are still located in buildings at various locations including the Washington Archibald High School (WAHS), Premier Dental Lab and the Beach-Allen Primary School.
“This is a disservice to our children,” he said.
