Disused Bethesda Primary to become vocational school for agricultural training even as farmers are losing lands

Based on the Gaston Browne Administration’s approach to the
agriculture sector, some residents are asking whether decisions
taken by the Cabinet are intended to be jokes.

Reports say the Executive has taken a decision to turn the shuttered
Bethesda Primary School into a technical and vocational School –
essentially, an extension of the Antigua and Barbuda Institute of
Continuing Education (ABICE)–where the focus will be on
agricultural science and related subjects. 
 
In response, a parent is asking why students would “waste their
time” studying this discipline when farm lands are being reclaimed
to accommodate housing projects and farmers are being placed on
the breadline when their holdings are taken away.

Accordingly, this woman says, the training could not be for any
entrepreneurial venture.

Rather, it appears that the government ministers who own farms
are looking for qualified individuals to work for them, she says;
hence, the offering of this specialized school.
 
Reportedly, the student population of the pre-existing Bethesda
Primary School had decreased to fewer students than teachers and
administrators. Therefore, according to this week’s Cabinet Notes,
the drop in the student population did not justify the continuation of
that institution.
 
As a result, the students were transferred to the Newfield Primary
School and a new purpose was articulated for the use of the
buildings at Bethesda.
 
Meanwhile, as the Chinese continue to train local farmers – many of
whom are now losing their lands – the chief extension officer was
invited to meet with the Cabinet to report on the progress of the
programme.
 
According to the report, farmers are being taught to grow new types
of vegetables, and each Cabinet member was provided with samples
of the freshly grown produce, which included broccoli and kale.
The “Cabinet expressed its thanks to the Chinese team for its
contribution to diversifying the produce of the agricultural sector,”
the Notes say.

At the same time, another resident observes, the Gaston Browne
Administration is

seeking to destroy the same sector