Let me preface what I’m about to say; I don’t know if there are plans in the place to renovate or rebuild the schools in St.Vincent and the Grenadines. I haven’t read anything regarding the infrastructure of the schools aside from the electrical problem that caused thousands of dollars in damage to GHS.

In the last two trips to my homeland I decided to visit the two schools I attended, the primary and the secondary I will not mention the schools as to not single anyone out for I am quite sure after hearing from friends who attended others that these are not the only ones that appear so outdated and lacking from an infrastructure standpoint.

I stepped through the gates of my old high school and instant nostalgia: running track in the yard against anyone and everyone who dared step to the starting “fence” line, I eventually represented my school in the 100m sprint but got whopped in the national HS meet at Arnosvale and had to settle for the silver. I was taken back to pickup soccer behind the tuck shop and unfortunately the disappointments when some silly girl I admired from the school across from us never came to the fence to watch me play. I defer this reminisce maybe in another post we shall continue.

One may think it’s great to revisit your old school and see it in the same state since you left, some fifteen years ago but that’s only true for facilitating the nostalgia of the old days. I am not sure how many of the students may notice the rust in the ceilings, the shaky barricades or the missing glass windows I certainly did not when I was there. This does not mean the children (“Man do I feel old”) are satisfied with it they’re merely settling because they believe its not there job to worry about these things and indeed they should not have to, this is where our government, our principals, our teachers, our adults who has better eyes or who should have better eyes for these things need to step up and say this is not good enough for our students. I was appalled to see the school I attended so long ago seemingly on the surface needing the same repairs it was in need of when I was there, chance is the school needs a lot more than I saw with my own eyes and nostalgic frame of mind.

Here’s the thought; education is key to the success of any of our folks today whether at home in St.Vincent or should they travel abroad. We can demonstrate this to the students not just by telling them after a detention session or a failed grade but by giving them the best schools, best labs, best equipment possible. We need to rebuild these age old infrastructures and raise them to a new standard, the situation at Girls high school could’ve been much worse. So while it’s great that we’re building new airports, let’s make sure we also give our students the best. How great it will be to visit my old school and see how much it has changed for the better.