A lot is wrong in Guyana

Oct 01, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
As a Guyanese living abroad I hope my infrequent visits home qualify me to make observations that might yet be rebutted by the resident Guyanese who can better explain why such and such is so.
I feel that for every apparent perplexity there lurks an explanation that can redeem the eye-brow knitting effort to understand it. Now, if my resident compatriot is unable to offer an explanation, perhaps because they too are perplexed, then under which crevice should I turn for that lurking answer to my observations?
I was in Guyana for most of ‘Education month’.  I wonder if September was decided because it’s the month when the school term starts; when parents, teachers and pupils are high on the newness of uniforms, books, book-bags and lessons. It seems too obvious, as if this had to be the month because it would otherwise be impossible, months down the line to derive the same coordinated energy toward the ‘event of education.’ And that’s just how this ‘education month’ appears; like a one-off event for a month. What happens after this energy surge in the month of September? How seriously is education taken in Guyana?
As an educationalist I am at pains to understand why education is no longer free in Guyana? I know, perceptibly it is, but actually it carries a financial burden that shouldn’t be there. Perhaps for the sake of sensationalism as a visiting Guyanese you hear all sorts of claims some of which sound farfetched. One such claim was that some school children were expected to bring their own desks to school.
Is this really the case? I was told that each child (at a village primary school in Berbice) was asked to bring in sanitary items; toilet paper and cleaning materials – soaps for instance. Is this really true? Also, the free distribution of exercise books does not appear to be systematic across the country. Or rather, some schools collect theirs and others ask parents to purchase exercise books, deeming the free books inferior quality. Parents are advised by the school about which commercial outlet they can purchase the books.
Had I not witnessed this with my very eyes, I would never have believed it. I saw my cousin covering over exercise books that had space for children to write their names and subjects. After covering over the books she had to put a sticker on top of the book for the same purpose of identifying the child and subject. Can anyone explain the purpose of this?
More perplexing is the fact that her six-year-old daughter going to primary school has to have over 15 exercise books –  for: spelling, poetry, one book for grammar and vocabulary, one book for dictation and phonics, comprehension, reading, composition, social studies, science, news (what’s this?), Mathematics, numeration, tables, counting, health and family life (what is this – when there’s social studies?), and Picture Studies (what is this?) homework (interestingly all the homework is done in one book ; why not in the subject book since there is one for every aspect of a discipline anyway?).
Is this really necessary? Why can’t the mathematics book also be used for numeration and tables? Why can’t all the books for language, grammar etc. come under ‘English’? Is this too logical a suggestion? My
cousin showed me her daughter’s books from last term, only about a quarter of each was used. This is an incredible waste and a shameful taxing of parents’ resources.  This same primary school child put her hand up to volunteer to bring paint and paint brush to the school as they were asked by their teachers to do so. What remarkable tolerance Guyanese must have in the face of such blatant advantage taking?
Does anyone object or are Guyanese resigned to these liberties? I know my cousin reprimanded her daughter for putting this financial burden on her and will not be supplying the school with paint. And need I mention the scandalous practice of head teachers illegally charging parents a registration fee to underscore the bizarre commerciality of the education system in Guyana? Although it was broadcast on the news that this registration charge was illegal my cousin has not been reimbursed the $4,000 extorted from her by her daughter’s school.  Who is really enforcing the end of this illegal practice?
Before dear resident I hear the shout about the $1,500 voucher that parents get for their children’s school supplies wouldn’t it make more sense to keep that meagre sum and put it collectively towards maintaining the school (with paints, toilet papers, and sanitary items)? I went to school in both Guyana and the UK and I never paid for exercise books – and certainly never had to lug over 15 of them and text books every day to school because teachers weren’t able with timetabling, as I was told.
This is absurd! I’ve seen children with pulleys dragging their load of books to school.  If this system is somehow explainable – this ad hoc timetabling –  then a solution might be to invest in a locker for each child so they don’t have to strain to carry books to and from school – sometimes without having to use them. OR DO A TIMETABLE.
It is a shame on the government for giving lip service to ideals of education when in fact the whole system is out of control. I wonder how members of the government can live with themselves knowing they benefited from an enviable system of real free education but are lackadaisical about what is ACTUALLY happening in the schools. Many pupils leave school without  knowing how to read and write, having spent most of their time participating in non-curricular activities at the school and for some not having the resources to take after school lessons. But the system can only get worse when the government’s answer to improving it is to now ask head teachers to become ’managers’.  Perhaps an economist in charge of a country can only think in commercial terms. But education, as it is proving in the UK can’t work as a business with its pupils and parents being thought of as consumers.
Here’s another perplexity. Though I had planned to travel to Guyana in the latter part of August the trip was made expedient when my uncle passed away. My cousin phoned while I was still in London to say that when they arrived the same day at the PHG mortuary my uncle had been thrown into a heap of other deceased persons and he too had other deceased persons dashed on top of him. The hospital had in fact discharged my uncle even though he was a frail 88-year-old elder – probably feeling that they had given him his citizen’s share of saline for his entire life. Is it really true that the mortuary at PHG dumps bodies on top of each other like garbage? If this, as I am led to believe is a general occurrence can someone explain why?  Furthermore, my uncle had been sharing his hospital bed with another patient with whom he fought because why should they be sharing each other’s sickness in this way?
I was also told that when you go into hospital you have to carry your own sheet. This is mindboggling. How can a hospital expect patients to take their own sheets to lie on and cover with as if they’re going to a sleep over? Despite knowing that the public service is grossly underfunded I don’t see how the hospital’s measly budget doesn’t (apparently) extend to ensuring that such basic requirements are met – especially for the elderly and babies – at least.
It’s little wonder that my uncle had to be dragged to hospital where he feared that ‘they going kill me…” I also understand that charities such as ‘Food for the Poor’ send in stacks of sheets to the hospital that are never discharged to the patients.
Whilst I feel confident that many of the professionals at PHG are doing admirable work for the chicken feed the government gives them it is likely that those who are less conscientious poach donations to subsidise said chicken feed. I am tempted to ask who can blame them.
However it is a matter of conscience and professionalism. Stealing charitable supplies whether for personal use or commercial purpose by anyone in charge of distributing such to the hospital patients is heinous.  But such is the dire economic conditions in Guyana it breeds this despicable opportunism even among caring professionals.
Another observation – when you arrive in Guyana there’s a mega picture (dictator style) of President Jagdeo donning garlands from some worthwhile convention that honoured his ‘work’ as an environmentalist. “Champion of the Earth” the slogan reads.
Fast forward the journey into the City and you’re confronted with plastic of every conceivable variety and other garbage heaped and dumped in canals, in the streets and disused buildings.
The canals stink they’re so clogged up, the garbage (those familiar white polystyrene food boxes mostly) is an eye-sore.
Will some dear resident enlighten my poor ignorance about what exactly the government is doing in terms of recycling – especially since this is one small thing we as individuals can do to help reduce greenhouse emissions? There seems to be no national, let alone individual culture of recycling or even respecting the cleanliness of the streets and communities of Guyana. During my visit I got no sense that the government was serious about environmentalism.  The blown up picture, the cheesy garland stringing from the President’s neck, the loud slogan projects a totally false image.
I make these observations not because I find them comical, but because they speak of the lack of seriousness on the part of the government about developing Guyana as a society, let alone economically. Education should be about quality. There’s no point getting children to own heaps of exercise books when there’s no strategy about how to successfully engage their minds so they leave school with real knowledge. Is Guyana really so poor that our schools and central hospital cannot be satisfactorily maintained with basic supplies? There is only one public hospital in Georgetown – so how can it not afford to have sheets for patients? What absolute disrespect for the dead is allowed to run in Guyana when the mortuary at PHG ditches bodies on top of one another? But I miss the point.
If there is disrespect for life, as we see with the excessive use of violence by the security services in Guyana which daily results in extra-judicial killings that go uninvestigated by the government, how can there be any respect for the dead. It’s an absurdity to see President Jagdeo sporting his garlands and accepting the title “Champion of the Earth” when Guyana and all Guyanese people need him to seriously, honestly and without any prejudice be a champion of their causes.
In truth the onus is on Guyanese whether we live abroad or at home to do our part in developing our society because if you take that blown up picture of President Jagdeo at the airport as evidence you would begin to question his sincerity and commitment to Guyana as whole.
Dr Michelle Asantewa

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