Gopeesingh unhappy with schools security that cost $250M a year

Tim Gopeesingh told reporters Tuesday he is unhappy with security at schools in Trinidad & Tobago, which he said is costing the state nearly $250 million a year.

The education minister was speaking at a news conference at his ministry's office in St Clair. He said the services provided to schools are “woefully short", noting that one company - The National Maintenance Training and Security Company Limited (MTS) - has been getting the lion's share of the contracts.

Gopeesingh said the MTS contract has gone on for too long. “That contract has gone on from 2004 and it is still continuing on a monthly basis. The whole question of school security leaves a lot to be desired.”

He said the ministry would soon begin advertising for security companies in the seven districts in Trinidad and one in Tobago.

“We will have the districts dispose clusters so that you may have more than one team of security company providing that service,” Gopeesingh added.

Gopeesingh also announced that schools will have added security using computer technology available from the state-owned telephone company, TSTT, which offers electronic surveillance through its Blink security system.

“We would be looking to do that on a pilot project to reduce cost and enhance efficiency by using the Blink system where you monitor the principals’ room and the areas of the computers labs and a number of key areas and you have a service that would give you an armed response within about ten or fifteen minutes,” Gopeesingh said.

The minister said said the Blink system will cost about $3 million a year at an average of $2,500 a month per school. That, he said, is cost effective when compared with the present system.

“We are charged approximately $42 to 45 per hour by the security company and that has to stop,” Gopeesingh reiterated.

Gopeesingh also spoke about deviant behaviour in school, which is continuing despite the implementation of various task forces.

“The ministry of education over the last six months has put together an entire task force dealing with deviant behaviour, truancy and these types of abnormal and unwarranted behavioural pattern by school children particularly in the secondary schools,” Gopeesingh said.

He added deviant behaviour as a multi factorial problem that "stems from the home, improper guidance, community, peer pressure and from the inability of students to develop their self esteem and self worth having gone through the system and not benefiting from it."