By Aabigayle McIntosh

Students at the Golden Grove Primary School had a day intended to celebrate and educate them about African history, but it turned out to be a nightmare.

The school was vandalized overnight, with perpetrators setting fires, damaging books, defacing classrooms, and destroying other important items belonging to the school.

The principal, Mae Hypolite, was attending a meeting near the Nutgrove Football field when she heard a fire tender and realized it was in close proximity to the school.

She was nervous but decided to speak up before leaving. She expressed her concerns about the people who have been coming into the school and destroying what is meant for education.

She pleaded with the community to talk to their children, asking them to stop coming onto the school’s property and destroying what they have.

When she arrived at the school, she found that the fire services were already dousing the flames. The headmistress explained that a teacher’s desk was completely destroyed, and it appeared that something was thrown into the building.

The groundsman first discovered the flames, and he attempted to put out what he could before alerting the Fire Brigade.

Hypolite was deeply upset by the incident, explaining that four classrooms were displaced. She appealed to everyone to work with them and stop destroying the schools.

The students who were displaced were made to assemble under a tent for the remainder of the day. Hypolite mentioned that this was the third incident since the start of the new school year.