TTUTA expects low student turnout for opening week

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Uni­fied Teach­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA) is ex­pect­ing a low turnout of stu­dents dur­ing the first week of the new aca­d­e­m­ic year, warn­ing that de­lays in the re­lease and pro­cess­ing of book grants have left many par­ents scram­bling to pre­pare their chil­dren for Mon­day’s re­open­ing.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, TTUTA sec­ond vice pres­i­dent, Nigel Fi­garo, said the as­so­ci­a­tion has been re­ceiv­ing re­ports from teach­ers and par­ents that many fam­i­lies who were de­pend­ing on the grants to pur­chase books and oth­er school sup­plies are now strug­gling to get every­thing in place.

“We do an­tic­i­pate a very low stu­dent turnout in the first week be­cause a lot of par­ents were hop­ing to get the book grants.”