Granger alarmed at spate of school protests

Feb 05, 2011 News

PNCR presidential nominee Brigadier (ret.) David Granger has expressed alarm over the spate of school protests that have occurred over the past two years.
He called on the administration to shut down schools which are unhealthy or unsafe and to accommodate children in a friendlier learning environment.
Speaking at ‘town-hall’ meetings at St George’s Secondary, Buxton and Vreed-en-Hoop Community High Schools during January, Granger brandished copies of the Kaieteur News and Stabroek News which carried stories of parents and students protesting against appalling conditions at schools, many of which are located in depressed rural areas.
Most recently, last week, parents and students of Philadelphia Primary School in Vergenoegen on the West Coast protested the condition and state of the school. Defects included filthy pit latrines and a leaking roof.
Granger said that public protests have become the only means of attracting the administration’s attention to the awful condition of rural schools.
Protests have become more frequent since February 2009 when members of the Parent-Teacher Association of the Hope West Primary School at Enmore, East Coast Demerara brought classes to a halt by protesting against the poor sanitation issues.
Some students and parents of the Vreed-en-Hoop Community High School, West Coast Demerara, protested the condition of the compound which frequently flooded during high tides in October 2010.
Irate parents of children attending the Ann’s Grove Primary School, East Coast Demerara protested the poor state of the 90-year-old school that same month.
Parents shut down the Bagotville Primary School on the West Bank and the Golden Grove Primary School on the East Coast in November last year to protest the shortage of teachers and the lack of water in the washrooms.
Teachers and parents of the St. Ignatius Primary School in the Rupununi staged a protest the same month to complain about the absence of potable water and poor sanitation.
Granger recalled that Guyana used to be an ‘education nation.’
“The current spate of protests, however, reflects the public alarm over educational standards.” Granger said.
The public perception is that the administration is not serious about repairing decrepit buildings and restoring decent sanitary standards especially in rural primary and community high schools, the Presidential Candidate hopeful said.
This, he said, is a contributory factor to the escalation of migration of trained teachers, the rising level of illiteracy, the increasing number of school dropouts and the swelling of the ranks of unemployed youths.

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Granger alarmed at spate of school protests

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