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Linden schools in need of attention – APNU Member of Parliament
Schools reopened on Monday across Guyana, and quite a few schools in Linden reported a poor turnout, with the exception of the Mackenzie High, New Silver City Secondary and the Wismar/Christianburg Secondary Schools, all of which reported a high turnout.
But even as a new school term commences, there are new expectations, especially as it relates to the environment in which learning takes place.
At the New Silver City Secondary school, there is the dire need for better security lighting and the installation of a new fence at the back of the school.
APNU MP Renis Morian chats with the Headmistress at New Silver City Secondary.
Based on reports, the absence of a proper fence has seen the escalation of larceny, which is severely affecting the proper functioning of the school’s agricultural programme, reportedly on hold at present. Work on the fence had commenced, but it was never completed, informed sources claimed. “We can’t do anything here in terms of agriculture, until the fence is fixed,” one source claimed.
There is also the need for general maintenance.
Several issues were highlighted at the Wismar/ Christianburg Secondary, such as the absence of a proper rest room facility for staff for several years now, and also the presence of exposed electrical wires in classrooms.
At Christianburg Primary the need for a photocopying machine was highlighted, and a part of the perimeter fence needs fixing. According to reports, work commenced on the fence last term, but is still to be completed. There is a wall that’s caving in and a supporting beam for stairway needs changing as it is rotting.
These issues were highlighted during the customary New Year school visit by APNU Member of Parliament Renis Morian.
Morian said that by visiting the schools, he is trying to garner information on the functioning of these institutions, both as it relates to proper infrastructure and amenities available to promote conducive learning environments.
“I would like to reduce the gap between the schools that would have most of the amenities, and those that don’t have as much, so these visits, afford me the opportunity to see firsthand some of what is missing so that I could make recommendations in Parliament, and so on; there is so much more that needs to be done.”
Morian also took the opportunity to visit the only low vision unit in region 10, which is located at the Wismar Hill Primary School.
There, some of the challenges facing the unit, were highlighted.
“We definitely need a larger space, because here we are very cramped- as you can see we are sharing this classroom with two other classes, and this makes our work so much harder.
You see a lot of the work we do, we have to use audio tapes, because of the children’s eye problems, but because of the noise from the other classes, most of the times we have to wait until they are dismissed, before we can actually work properly. We can’t record with all the background noise, so we definitely need our own space, and one that is big enough to house not only a primary unit, but a Secondary one as well,” it was pointed out.
The hope was also expressed that more parents become involved in their children’s education.
Morian meanwhile made an on the spot commitment to present a television set to the unit, within the next couple of weeks.
Children from the One Mile Primary school are still currently housed at the Wismar Hill Primary, and the Block 22 Multi Purpose hall.
The One mile Primary which was burnt by arsonists during the July – August 2012 unrest, is still to be completed almost two years later.
After its destruction, members of both the Linden community and those in the diaspora had pledged to rebuild the school without the help of the Government.
Monies and building materials were subsequently collected towards that end, and cleanup and some construction had commenced.
However, to date, the structure is yet to be completed.
Chairman of Region Ten Sharma Solomon, in an earlier interview had noted that with the budgetary allocation of some $50 million towards the school’s rebuilding, the ‘rebuild committee’ would instead be focusing on upgrading the new school facilities, with the monies that were initially collected to rebuild the school.
The rebuilding project had commenced in October 2012, with residents volunteering their labour, but was later discontinued.
Recently Minister Priya Manickchand had pledged government’s commitment to rebuild the school, which is expected to cost in excess of $60mil. (Enid Joaquin).
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