St. Thomas Residents Fed Up

Residents Block Roads in Protest

Protests in several St. Thomas communities yesterday forced a number of schools, including St Thomas Technical, to suspend classes after residents used debris to block sections of several main roads, preventing the movement of vehicular traffic.

Vice-principal of St Thomas Technical Ricardo Morgan told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that fewer than 10 students and staff members turned up for classes.

“It affected us [so] we had no school today (yesterday). We have lost a day and we now have to wait on the Ministry [of Education] to advise us about how to proceed,” Morgan said.

Chief education officer at the Ministry of Education Dr Grace McLean told theObserver that the school is required to “follow up with their education officer to determine how they should make up the day, days or even hours”.

A message circulated via social media urged residents to come out and protest against the parish's poor infrastructure which, it said, has deteriorated over the years.

“St Thomas, we protest on November 6, 2017 for better roads parish-wise. St Thomas, we will not be content by patchwork; we want real roads. St Thomas, we want roads and we want better roads,” the message, which was posted on Facebook and sent through WhatsApp, read.

One social media user, Omar Ryan, said the parish must be placed on the front line for development and brought up to par with the general road infrastructure of Jamaica.

“…A matter of fact, we should have the best roads and when they are damaged, be fixed in 72 hours. All of what is needed to do the job is abundant in St Thomas. St Thomasians have remained silent for too long. We [are] raising the revolutionary banner once more,” he said.

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