The Ari­ma Hin­du School on Tem­ple Street, has been or­dered closed fol­low­ing an up­surge of crime in the com­mu­ni­ty where it is lo­cat­ed. On Fri­day, Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion of­fi­cials told the prin­ci­pal and staff no one should en­ter the school com­pound un­til fur­ther no­tice. A meet­ing with all stake­hold­ers will take place at the Ari­ma Town Hall on Sorzano Street at 5 pm to­day.

Par­ents had ex­pressed con­cern fol­low­ing the mur­der of a res­i­dent out­side the school last week Thurs­day. Do­minic Houl­li­er Almerales, 37, was killed and Deis­ree Sparkle Layne, 39, was in­jured when they went to col­lect rent at a two-storey apart­ment com­plex on Tem­ple Street. Po­lice said Almerales slapped one of the men, who then shot him mul­ti­ple times. Layne was al­so hit, sus­tain­ing gun­shot wounds to her shoul­der and leg.

Min­istry of­fi­cials and po­lice sub­se­quent­ly or­dered a lock­down of the school with stu­dents and staff in­side the build­ing. Since then, par­ents have not been send­ing their chil­dren to school out of fear for their safe­ty. The burn­ing of a car and fire­bomb­ing of apart­ment and a house near the school in the days af­ter the mur­der have fur­ther com­pound­ed the fear of teach­ers, stu­dents and par­ents. As a re­sult, the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion has sus­pend­ed class­es un­til fur­ther no­tice.(Trinidad Guardian)…[+]