Teachers outnumbered students at Dellwood Primary School yesterday after the vast majority of parents backed a one-day boycott in protest of the opposed move to Northlands.

Only 17 of the 325 students turned up for class -- the rest stayed at home.

While Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira criticised parents for neglecting their children's education, Dellwood PTA president Ms Amatullah Bashir yesterday dubbed the boycott "a resounding success''.

"This action is to confirm our disapproval of Government sending our children up the Northlands facility,'' she said.

She said the PTA also demanded a full disclosure of Government's plans to convert the old Technical Institute on Roberts Avenue into a sports facility.

The site, she said, would have made "an ideal location for a middle school''.

By contrast, Northlands was an inferior physical plant for education, she claimed.

"We are still waiting for Government to come clean with the public ... W We have to ask ourselves, do we want to have a hotel on that site for visiting athletes to the detriment of our children's education?'' she asked.

But Sports and Recreation minister the Hon. Pamela Gordon slammed the accusation as "totally erroneous''.

Plans to turn the site into a hostel for visiting athletes had been scrapped in 1981 when it was feared it could take business from local guest houses and hotels, she said.

And she claimed plans for the central sports stadium had been well publicised.

The land was in the process of being sub-divided to facilitate fund raising efforts by the Sports Trustee Board.

While Ms Gordon expressed "some degree of empathy'' for Dellwood parents, she claimed the two issues had been confused.

"My concern is that they have confused the Dellwood issue with an unrelated issue to cause sympathy. It is out of context.'' Defending the Cabinet decision to turn the Roberts Avenue site into a sports facility, she said that it was both central and would not use up potentially money-spinning former Base lands.

Mrs. Mary Samuels co-chair of the Dellwood restructuring committee that wants to see Dellwood remain a primary school after 1997, claimed the boycott showed 95 percent of parents were against the move to Northlands regardless of ethnic origin and whether their children were likely to be affected.

"The parents are saying we've been sold out,'' she said. "Government has to open its eyes and realise there is growing community support to keep Dellwood where it is.'' She added: "There is increasing uneasiness with what Youth and Sport is doing as far as the facility at Roberts Avenue goes.'' But Chief Education Officer Mr. Dean Furbert yesterday called the boycott "unfortunate'' in light of the fact that Dr. Terceira had met recently with the PTA and agreed to make changes at Northlands to bring it up to primary school standard.

"Today was a normal school day and we expected the children to be in school,'' Mr. Furbert said.

In the House of Assembly yesterday, Shadow Education Minister Ms Jennifer Smith said she understood the parents' protest.

She described their boycott as "unique''.

"I applaud the fact they have stuck together. I only wish more parents could be concerned.''