Pupils’ relocation fails to find favour with parents

Mar 19, 2015 News

---

Parents of pupils attending Christianburg Primary School are up in arms against the decision by the Region Ten Education Department to relocate some of the pupils to St Aidan’s Primary.
The parents yesterday protested in front of the Region Ten Education Department. They have vowed to continue their protest today, and for the entire month until the Department revisits their decision to relocate some of the children to St Aidan’s Primary, which is more than three miles away from the Christianburg Primary School.
The parents argued that the children would be hard-pressed to foot the distance to St Aidan’s which is the only option for most.
The decision to relocate the children was taken after the PTA decided to shut the Christianburg Primary School down last Friday, to register their dissatisfaction over the rapidly deteriorating building.
Officials from the Education Department subsequently visited the school and advised parents of the decision to have the children housed at St Aidan’s.
Parents were however not in favour of the decision, because of the distance the children would have to travel.
Some parents subsequently met with Regional Chairman, Sharma Solomon. Suggestions were made to have the pupils housed at the nearby Christianburg Community Center and a health center that is currently vacant.
However, no approval was reportedly granted by the Department for such a move.
At present, only children preparing for the National Grade Six examinations are attending the St. Aidan’s School. The other pupils are not attending school.
According to the parents, the Christianburg Primary School is not fit for human habitation, and their cries for help had fallen on deaf ears.
Addressing their concerns to APNU parliamentarian Rennis Morian on Thursday said that the school is a “catastrophe waiting to happen”. President of the PTA, Sharon Sansculotte, said that the school administration had written the Region Ten Education Department and all the relevant bodies, concerning the school building which continues to deteriorate.
“For the past three years we’ve been complaining about the deplorable condition of the school, our HM sent letters to all the relevant bodies, and to date nothing has been done.
I took pictures of the school and posted on facebook- nothing has been done, so we have come to the conclusion, that (the building) is dangerous for the children to occupy, so we’re going to lock the school”.
Sanculotte identified a host of issues affecting the smooth running of the school, among them windows that cannot open, which result in classrooms being very hot.
She pointed to the building which is leaning precariously, and which parents fear would eventually slide off its foundation. A ‘virtual forest’ is slowly developing. Already vines have begun to climb on the walls of the school. This situation, parents fear, will result in a similar scenario, as that of the Watooka Day School, which had to be closed recently, because of a snake infestation.
The washroom area, which is leaking and causes the area to be always wet and smelly, is another cause for concern.
Sansculotte said that these concerns were pointed out to Minister Juan Edghill during one of his visits to the mining town.
Edghill, she noted, asked about the number of children attending the school, and the location of the nearest school, so that pupils could possibly be housed elsewhere.
But parents are adamant that they want their own school.
The PTA President pointed to the recently built clinic, which was done despite the fact that a clinic was already in the area.
“They build the clinic, when there was already one, now we don’t have a school, this building is church property- Why they can’t give us a new school? Every now and again we want to do something; we have to write the church for approval, then when we get the go ahead from the church. We have to write Ministry of Works and this body and that body- We don’t have enough space for an IRI section.
“We bought materials to do it, but it was left to rot; wood ants eat out the materials – over $500,000 in materials, before we could do anything, because of all the red tape involved.
APNU Parliamentarian Rennis Morian, said that parents need a proper school for their children, so that they could be at home and know that that they are safe.
He added, “I’m alerting people about this situation because if and when a tragedy should happen, people would know that we would have brought this situation to the attention of the government, and we will not, as residents, sit back and allow our children to be injured or killed in a building like this. I’m saying to the Government that they need to come in here as soon as possible, because this is a catastrophe waiting to happen!
Meeting
Officers of the Education Department subsequently held a meeting with parents and teachers on Friday, where the decision was taken to house Grades One and Six at the nearby Christianburg Community Centre, while Grades Two, Three, Four and Five would be accommodated at the St Aidan’s Primary School.
Region Ten Chairman, Sharma Solomon, said that the Education system in Region Ten is becoming a serious cause for concern, as it relates to the well being of students and teachers. He added that in relation to infrastructure very little regard is being shown for the condition under which both teachers and children are forced to work under.
Solomon alluded to the motto for education which stresses the need for a conducive environment so that learning can take place.
He said that the situation as it relates to Christianburg Primary, graphically illustrates that the environment is definitely not conducive to learning.
“Children have to be climbing shaky stairs- the building is on the verge of collapsing. This is of serious concern. And these matters are not new. These matters were brought to the attention of the people at the department of Education for years now. But I do sympathize with them, because for two years now these matters were put in the budget, at the level of the RDC after they were brought to our attention, but we are not getting the support or funding.
“So now it is most unfortunate that today these children have to be forced out of a building, where works could have been done two years ago to rectify those matters.”
Solomon said that the issue is not an isolated matter but one that is becoming a “plaguing situation across the Region”.

---

---