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The plight of a working mother and her young child

Sep 29, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
I am a mother of three girls aged between four and eight years old. Two of them are attending Republic Avenue Nursery and Regma Primary respectively. The third one who was attending Republic Avenue nursery is being placed at Christianburg or Mackenzie Primary.
I work at the national library so no one is at home to collect my child at 1:30 every day. I usually keep them with me at work.  Since I have only a one-hour lunch break it is impossible for me to get to Christianburg or Mackenzie Primary and get back to work on time daily.
The regional education district officer, Ms Marcia Andrews-Paddy, is saying that I have to put systems in place to collect my child but what system can i put in place? I can’t be asking for time off every day and I cannot afford taxi to pick her up. I enquired from a car driver and he said twenty thousand dollars per month to take her and bring her to the library from Christianburg. It is not like i can take her in the mornings because the school even though it is in Christianburg is way out of bound from where I live and I have the other two to take to school across the river and get to work for eight o clock  in the mornings.
The REDO is saying that the system is placing the children at the closest school to their home and I do understand the initiative but I still think that there should be some kind of allowance on a case by case basis.
If this is the new system then everyone should be given the same treatment. But instead some persons were given considerations and some were not. I have been going to the ministry for several weeks and the REDO remains steadfast in refusing to consider my application. Yet persons went to her after me and got their child to attend Regma.
I know of persons working in the market and living in One Mile who got through.  What made me even more annoyed is that a Chinese national who lives at Burnham Drive, Wismar and whose place of employment is Burnham Drive, Wismar, got his child to be placed at Regma. The library is very close to Regma and I already have a child going there.
I was in communication with both the officer in charge of Primary Mr Claude Hudson and the Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam and they said that the REDO informed them that the school is full and that Mackenzie Primary is the next closest school to my work place.
I am pleading with the relevant authorities to step in and assist me.  I read in the newspapers that parents who leave their children home alone will be charged but this situation will open avenues for children to be left unattended by parents who cannot afford to put systems in place as Ms. Andrews-Paddy is suggesting.
I am calling on Ms. Jennifer Webster and the Ministry of Human Affairs and child welfare to step and assist.
All efforts to reach Minister Priya Manickchand were futile but I am hoping that when she reads this article she can be of some help to me too.
Linsay Sukhu

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