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North West Secondary to be completed by Dec. 31
Having missed two deadlines in the past four months, the completion of renovations at the North West District Secondary School now hangs on the promise of contractors. The new deadline is December 31, 2013.
Construction works to the Region One Secondary School begun in January last and were expected to be completed in August. The works included dismantling and redesigning some sections of the building, re-facing the school’s internal and external walls and complete rebuilding of the upper floor.
Renovation works at North West District Secondary School.
According to the Regional Chairman, Paul Pierre, renovations were also aimed at improving ventilation in the building and enlarging classrooms since the building was “cramped”.
The works were set to be completed in time for the opening of the new school year, however, the deadline was pushed back to November as works remained incomplete. Now, students are forced to hope for a realization of the yearend deadline.
Kaieteur News was informed that for the entire period, classroom sessions were facilitated simultaneously in the Region’s Community Centre building, the Learning Resource Centre, the Roman Catholic Church and the Mabaruma Primary School.
According to residents, this arrangement has resulted in students being unsupervised for the majority of the hours spent at school.
One concerned resident explained that since the buildings are located some distance away from each other, the times allotted for teaching are reduced as teachers need to move from building to building to attend to classes.
“All the subjects have different teachers, and by time one teacher move from one building to go over to another building, is time wasting. And the children just roaming all over the place… It’s really a mess,” he opined.
He said that the lack of supervision results in students vandalizing the buildings and indulging in other misacts. He also raised concerns about the sanitary facilities available for the students’ use, noting that at some of the buildings; only “pit latrines” are available.
While the discomfort of both teachers and students remains at the forefront of the concerns raised, residents are also of the view that the renovation works do not depict ‘value for money’.
“They are doing crude work there, it is very rough. There is no neatness. There is no finesse in the work, like the men on the ground have no pride in their work,” one resident opined.
Moreover, residents argue that materials that are being used are inferior and workmen are moving at too slow a pace. “I doubt it would be finished for January. A lot of work still needs to be done.”
According to the Regional Chairman, the work on the building has been progressing rapidly as of recent; and judging from its present structure completion is near.
Commenting on the slothfulness of contractors argued by villagers, he said that works had indeed been slow during the period that the North -West ferry had stopped working. The ferry had to be reined in for months due to mechanical difficulties.
He said that during this time, it was difficult to transport building materials into the Region.
At the same time, the Regional Chairman acknowledged that the speedy completion of the building would be of benefit to all, as the present situation is discomforting to both students and teachers.
“Completion will be good. It would mean less movement for teachers and more spacious classrooms for students.”
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