Teachers who request furniture from parents will be disciplined – says Armogan

Jan 13, 2015 News

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…$14M spent on furniture in 2014
The Region Six Chairman, David Armogan, has stated that teachers, who request furniture from parents for school children, will be disciplined. The warning came at the Region Six Administration annual Press Conference held recently at the Boardroom of the Berbice Regional Health Authority (BRHA), Fort Canje.

He and Region Six Education Officer, Volika Jaikishun, were addressing allegations of some teachers asking parents to bring furniture to schools.
But the Chairman stated that one would mostly find such cases only in the Form One classes, during the September school term. This marks the beginning of the new school year whereby, new intake of students would see parents of those students normally taking benches and chairs for their children.
The Region Six Administration, he stated, cannot stop those parents from doing so, however, he made it very clear that all of the furniture needs in the Region’s schools have been fulfilled. Additionally, schools were furnished with file cabinets, cupboards, teachers’ tables and chairs, stools, etc.
“People voluntarily take furniture to schools, which is customary…we don’t stop people from doing that, but it’s not compulsory,” he stated.
Last year, his administration spent $14.9M on procuring furniture for schools, with an additional $3M to supplement the need. Region Six has 17 secondary schools with 9671 students; two practical centres with 465 students; 53 primary schools with 11,760 students and 69 nursery schools with 3,789 students. The Region spent over $2.2B on education last year, its largest area of expenditure.
Armogan said that members of the public should report to either him or Ms. Jaikishun whenever schools ask parents for furniture, and those persons will be dealt with. “We can discipline those people (the teachers)”, he added.
He did note, though, that the Region has to frequently replenish the furniture supply in schools since these items are destroyed very quickly. “We are steady getting releases from the Ministry of Education (MoE) for those that are damaged because they are damaged very quickly,” he posited.
“More care should be taken to ensure that the furniture is not damaged as quickly as we are experiencing.”
Armogan added that 79 nursery schools, 12 secondary schools and 29 primary schools were repaired in 2014.
The student-population at the Amerindian Reservation of Orealla/Siparuta, located along the Corentyne River, has outgrown the building, thus a new $11M building had to be erected at Springlands to house approximately 30-40 students, Armogan said.
Additionally, repairs to a dormitory were effected at Orealla to house students from Siparuta who are
studying there. The Albion Front Nursery school, which attracted numerous protests in 2014, due to the fact that parents refused to allow their children to occupy the school because of building defects, is now being occupied.
Works were done too to the Black Bush Polder Secondary; Savannah Park Nursery; Berbice High; Central Corentyne Secondary; Fyrish Nursery and Canje Secondary.
He lauded Regional Education Officer, Ms. Volika Jaikishun, for the hard work she has put in over the past two years since assuming the position of Senior Education Officer of Region Six. This is given the fact that several of the national top CXC performers in Guyana hailed from Region Six. To celebrate further, they hailed from non-traditional schools of high performance, such as JC Chandisingh Secondary and Berbice High.
Abandoned Moleson Creek Primary
Speaking about the abandoned Moleson Creek Primary School which made the news a year ago, Armogan said that while the school is still closed, the Region Six Administration has been transporting all students coming out from the area to attend school in the Crabwood Creek/ Skeldon areas, with a bus. This situation obtains on a daily basis.  After school, the students are transported back to Moleson Creek.
The Moleson Creek Primary School currently sits in the middle of a virtual jungle and access to the learning institution at this time is almost impossible.
Moleson Creek is one of the nearest points between Guyana and neighbouring Suriname.
Apart from the jungle, access to the school was deemed treacherous, due to the state of the road, thus a decision was made to close the institution.
Migration in 2012 had hit the area thus the school had to be abandoned.
The school is surrounded by big bushes. Armogan is optimistic that the school can be reopened in the future, provided the road towards the proposed bridge across the Corentyne River is built.
“Hopefully if the road is built to connect to the (Corentyne River) Bridge, we can probably look at reopening the school.”

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