C.C. Sweeting Power Woes: “It’s Left Teachers Frustrated and Special Education Students Traumatized”

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – As students prepared to start their day at C.C. Sweeting Senior High School, their teachers were outside protesting, saying they’ve had enough of weeks of power woes.

Singing songs, with signs in hand, the teachers say the constant outages are making it difficult to teach and for students to learn.

They say the conditions have become unbearable.

Bahamas Union of Teachers Shop Steward Kimberly Butterfield says “Don’t just tell us turn off the air conditioners cause that is what we had to do and load shed in order to make things work. because the power that the school is running on it’s not sufficient.”

Teachers say the danger goes beyond the inconvenience of not having power.

In fact, Special Education teacher Gia Symonette tells us it’s especially dangerous for students with special needs.

Gia Symonette – Special Education Teacher, C.C. Sweeting

“I heard a pop and my colleague who worked alongside…we looked up and we saw a spark, and we saw burning so we immediately left the room.”

“My students are severely traumatized because as you know, they don’t comprehend much, but they know that fire is danger so we just wanna be safe.”

Meanwhile, this issue isn’t limited to C.C. Sweeting, schools across the country, most recently in Eleuthera, have also been affected, with power issues forcing closures there.

The Ministry of Education says it’s working with power officials to address the issues, not only at C.C. Sweeting, but at schools across the country.

However, educators say while they understand these problems take time to resolve, they’re no longer willing to accept the current conditions.

Kimberly Butterfield – Shop Steward, Bahamas Union of Teachers

“They’re saying six weeks…but we need to know when will work commence, that is where we are right now.”