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Teachers Union concerned about issues at Brickdam Secondary
GTU executives at the Press conference yesterday. From left: General Secretary, Coretta McDonald; Administrative Field Officer, Lancelot Baptiste and resident, Mark Lyte.
Several concerns at the Brickdam Secondary School were yesterday ventilated by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) when it hosted a press conference at its Woolford Avenue, Georgetown, headquarters.
The concerns were highlighted when questions about the safety of the school environment was posed to GTU executives at the forum that saw its President Mark Lyte; General Secretary, Coretta McDonald, and Administrative Field Officer, Mr Lancelot Baptiste taking the forefront.
However, it was Baptiste who took the spotlight on this issue. He insisted that concerns ranging from a fire hazard situation to having a lack of space have been recognised by the Union and these were long brought to the attention of the administration of the school.
According to Baptiste, late last year he was invited to a meeting at the Brickdam School to help address a number of matters among members of staff. At that forum the GTU Officer said that he challenged the Head Teacher of the School to recommend to the School Board, that a report be submitted to the Education Ministry highlighting the need for the school to be relocated. The Head Teacher is also a member of the School Board.
His decision to raise his relocation thought with the Head Teacher, Baptiste said, was premised on his conviction that the school was too near to a busy section of the city and had no playground in which children could recreate. “They just have two passageways,” the GTU Officer observed.
The narrow passage ways in fact, constitute the only yard space for the school and therefore represents the perimeter of the property.
Baptiste intimated yesterday, “I mentioned to her (the Head Teacher) that many a mornings, recreation time (and) lunch break, children could be seen standing on the road because there is no place else for them to go.”
He said that there have been complaints about the children playing in the classroom, a situation that can hardly be avoided in light of the fact that “this is the only place that they have to play. The very place that they have to go to do systematic learning because they have no place else, and these are young people with hormones.”
He also went on to point out that the Hadfield Street entrance of the school is currently blocked, a state of affairs that could prove to be detrimental if there was a fire. “If there is a fire nobody can go through there…I mentioned all of that to her (the Head Teacher) to try to convince her that she needed to talk to Board Members about having a meeting forthwith with the Ministry,” said Baptiste.
Baptiste said that he had even proceeded to make suggestions of possible relocation possibilities. “That was late last year (and) I am presuming that that has been done or will be done very soon…I even suggested to the headmistress that in talking to the Board, a school area that I had in mind and although I wouldn’t want to pre-empt, you have about 400-500 children here (Brickdam Secondary); don’t take them too far away,” the GTU Officer suggested.
A suitable location for the school, he explained, would be one that has the kind of environment to be used as a secondary, that is, one that can accommodate older students.
Among Baptiste’s suggestions was that the Enterprise Primary in Lodge, since according to him the number of pupils there has been dwindling, currently amounting to about just over 100. And there is the St Sidwell’s Primary which, he said, has less than 100 children. “I thought that the children from that school (could) be sent to Tucville Primary…those who live around that area.”
Another school that was proposed by Baptiste to aid the process was St Thomas More.
Turning his attention back to the Enterprise Primary school which was recently rebuilt, Baptiste said that the facility is one that could accommodate some 800-plus children. He nevertheless, stated his concern about the recreational space of the school hinting to the fact, that it may not be conducive enough for the older students.
Baptiste is hopeful that the publicising of the situation would be one that could allow for speedy action in addressing the concerns at the school some of which, he noted, are similar at other schools including St Agnes Primary and Central High.
“Going public now may speed up the administration of the (Brickdam) school to make sure that the Board does what it is supposed to do, all for the benefit of those little children who need to be a little bit more relaxed,” added Baptiste.
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