JACKSON TOWN, Trelawny
Thieves made off with some $250,000 worth of computer equipment belonging to the First Hill All-Age School here earlier this week, sparking a massive demonstration by the school population on Tuesday morning.

The placard-waving demonstrators, comprised of frustrated teachers, students and parents, used heavy boulders to block sections of the Jackson Town roads in protest against the latest burglary at the school, the fourth in just under two years.

Principal Errol Dyer tries to mollify angry students of the First Hill All-Age which experienced yet another robbery on Tuesday. (Photo: Horace Hines)

"We don't know what to do again. We are at a frustration point. This morning (Tuesday morning) the parents, students and teachers have decided to demonstrate. We went to the crossroads with placards, demanding that the computers be returned. They are there for the students, we are really, really frustrated," the school's principal, Errol Dyer, told the Observer West.

Dyer, who has been principal at the school for the past two years, said he closed the school after 5:00 pm Monday and received news early the following morning that there were signs of a break-in.

The robbers gained entry to the school compound by tearing down a portion of the back perimeter fencing and used iron bars to slash away three locks to gain entry to the computer room.

"There were three locks. On the outside grill, middle door and inside grill," bemoaned Dyer.

The thieves then removed four monitors, six CPUs, one printer and a surge protector from the room.

Ironically, this week's theft comes just two months after the official handing over of a multi-purpose court and school fencing - a project worth $3.3 million - by the Digicel Foundation to the school.

At the time, Dyer expressed confidence that the erection of the school fencing would end the burglaries dogging his school. His next move, he said, will be to lobby the Ministry of Education for the services of watchmen to protect the school compound.

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