Burglars plunder Little London Primary - Crooks clean out computers and more in third break-in
Published:Saturday | January 25, 2020 | 12:11 AMAdrian Frater/News Editor
WESTERN BUREAU:
Administrators at the Little London Primary School in Westmoreland are heartbroken after burglars broke into the school and cleaned out 16 computers and other valuable items.
Ian Myles, the chairman of the Little London Primary School, told The Gleaner that there have been three break-ins in as many weeks, with the school’s technology department being wiped out.
Other items were also stolen and teaching aids destroyed.
“The teaching-learning process has been significantly impacted as laptops, tablets, and other teaching aids were stolen, leaving the teachers and students without these important teaching aids,” said Myles.
“They have also done damage to the infrastructure of the school as they ransacked the different classrooms.”
Children suffer the most
The loot over the last three weeks includes nine laptops, seven tablets, one water pump, two state-of-the-art headphones, and a four-burner gas stove.
“The school belongs to the community, so we appealing to residents to assist the police,” said Myles.
“This is where we prepare youngsters for the future, so when the teaching aids are stolen, the children are the ones that will suffer the most.”
While appealing to the community to help in identifying the suspected perpetrators, Myles said that his board was also in dialogue with the Ministry of Education to address a range of security deficits at the school.
“Currently, the school is without a security guard to monitor the compound at night. There is also an absence of a surveillance system, inadequate lighting, and proper fencing, which makes the school an open invitation for the criminals,” the board chairman said.
A parent who asked not to be identified told The Gleaner that the frequent break-ins were fracturing the relationship between the school and the community.
“The teachers are unhappy and frustrated with the community because they believe the community knows the persons who are behind the robberies but are not willing to tell what they know,” the parent said.
“I personally would encourage anybody with information to tell the police because they can’t want our children to be educated but continue to stand by and watch the school being destroyed by selfish people.”