School, Shadow Education Minister Miss Jennifer Smith claimed yesterday.

And she called on Government to "at least'' set up a short-term programme for the high school's students who will return to school on September 13 -- a week after other students begin classes.

The delay comes after workmen found the roof of one of the high school's old buildings needed replacing.

"The entire roof was found to be rotten and needed removing,'' Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira said earlier this week.

"We have decided to bite the bullet and replace the roof. We have decided to go ahead with work in the interests of safety.'' The upstairs of the two-floor building, which holds 11 classrooms and a staff room, will be cleared for the overhaul. Workers are likely to take up to eight weeks to complete the job.

St. George's Secondary principal Mr. Dale Butler said in the meantime 11 classrooms would have to be moved elsewhere, with some "doubling up''.

And Dr. Terceira appealed for understanding from parents and pupils.

But Miss Smith said she had already been contacted by "a number of St.

George's area residents''.

"Parents are up in arms,'' she said. "They see their children's interest being sacrificed, and they feel their children are being treated with contempt and prejudice by this belated last-ditch effort, a week before school is scheduled to resume after the long summer break.'' Miss Smith said the delay showed a "lack of foresight and a lack of anticipation''.

"Although the roof of one of St. George's Secondary's buildings had been damaged in Hurricane Emily -- and promises were made to repair it, work did not start on repairing this roof until August 9, even though the school was scheduled to re-open on September 8,'' she said.

"This schedule left no room for the unexpected.

"It was bad planning, particularly since the school had been closed since June.

"It is common knowledge that when doing repairs and renovations, one always finds something unexpected. This is even more true for a 100-year-old building.'' Noting that this was the second time in two years that the high school's students were forced to start the school year later than youngsters at other schools, Miss Smith said: "At the moment, St. George's appears to get the short end of the stick.'' With the repair work expected to take until November, she added: "The new students, the first under Government's new transfer system, will spend their first two months under chaotic conditions.

"This is not the way to instill confidence that the "building'' Minister can carry out the school reforms in the proper manner.

"So far, the planning, coordination and supervision of school renovations leaves much to be desired and will have to be greatly improved if the public is to have any confidence that this Government sincerely means to offer all students equal education.'' Miss Smith also noted that parents, who had to make arrangements to keep their children occupied during the summer, would have to make "last-minute arrangements for their children at their expense''.

"The least that Government can do is to put on a short-term organised programme while these works are being carried out,'' she said.