Latest update April 7th, 2025 6:08 AM
MP barred from Parika school meeting
– parents vow more protests today
Protesting parents of a Region Three school walked out of a meeting yesterday after Minister of Education officials refused to allow a Member of Parliament (MP) to hear complaints.
The parents had earlier blocked the gates of the Parika-Salem Primary School to protest the overcrowding and other conditions that operate at the school.
MP Jaipaul listening to the complaints of a very vocal parent.
Jaipaul Sharma, an MP for A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) was at the school. After the arrival of the area’s Regional Education Officer at the school, a meeting was scheduled with the parents. However, the parents were not too happy after it was learnt that MP Sharma was not going to be allowed into the meeting.
Sharma is also co-host of the Justice For All Program on CNS 6. His father, well-known television personality, C.N. Sharma was also there with his cameras.
Regional Education Officer (ag) Penelope McIntosh declined to comment on the decision to exclude Sharma from the meeting, remaining silent to questions posed. However, a colleague of McIntosh said it was protocol that no media allowed in meetings with parents. Asked about the MP’s presence, he had no comments.
The parents immediately said that no meetings will be held without their “representative”, he MP, being present. The meeting was abandoned and protest actions are expected to continue today.
Earlier, before 08:00hrs, parents locked the gates leaving teachers and students out of the school.
They only opened it after the rains came.
But the protest was taken into the compound where students up to Grade Six bore placards and chanted for a new building.
According to Alethea Baird, President of the school’s Parent/Teacher Association (PTA), the conditions of the primary school have been raised several times with Region Three education officials. That department falls under the Ministry of Local Government and not the Ministry of Education.
Among some of the complaints raised were overcrowding of classrooms, the state of classrooms, the poor conditions of sanitary facilities and the compound, among other things.
Regarding the overcrowding, the parents said that learning conditions have worsened in recent times.
Despite objections, a decision was taken to build a secondary school right in the same compound. The classrooms of that new school remained largely empty, according to the parents.
Parents say that Parika-Salem Primary School is badly in need of repairs.
“We have parents complaining of their children being beaten by the bigger children from the secondary school. We have the headmistress forced to put up plastic to cover her windows to stop the rain. We have a compound that is slush when the rain falls. We have people entering the classrooms after hours because of holes in the walls,” Baird said.
The washrooms of the teachers were constantly flooded and the classrooms remained extremely hot because of how they were built.
“For over 20 years now, nothing has been done to the school. They call this the cowboy school. Our children can do much better. In some classrooms, we have children sitting while the bat droppings fall. We need attention to these.”
There were also numerous complaints about the regional education department which parents say continues to turn a blind eye to the school situation.
According to Member of Parliament Sharma, he is unclear what “protocols” would cause him not to hear what parents are complaining about.
“They say there are protocols. Obviously I will have to find out. Further, we have received complaints about schools especially in the West Demerara area. We are worried. This area is home to thousands of Guyanese. If the conditions are not right, it will affect students. The parents are rightfully worried. They want to know something.”
The MP also said he has received complaints about other schools in the West Demerara area. He proposes to visit them.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education said, that the Minister was highly interested in complaints to which regional education officials were not paying attention.
The Parika protests would follow a similar one that took place a week ago at La Parfaite Harmonie Primary School, another West Bank Demerara facility. Parents protested the conditions there too.
That school was badly burnt in March but no repairs were done. The Ministry has since announced that $14M has been released to conduct repairs at that school.
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