Problems with the registration process and dormitory accommodation at CPCE

Sep 11, 2015 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I am writing in the hope of highlighting several significant and glaring problems with the registration process and dormitory accommodation at the Cyril Potter College of Education. Firstly, I would like to make it clear that I am writing from the perspective of an ordinary observer.
A young relative of mine who resides in Region 10 was recently accepted into the college and will be living in the dorms. On Thursday, September 3, she went to the college to submit her application and to be interviewed. This process took all day; from 8 am to about 7:30 pm. There were over a hundred people being processed according to their administrative regions. One wonders how the administration expected to efficiently process so many people within a few days. It would have been easier to deal with one or maybe two regions per day.
After learning that she was accepted, on Sunday 6th of September, she proceeded to the college to be assigned to her dorm room and was greeted with another chaotic process that lasted several hours. From what I observed as I accompanied her, it seemed that the matron alone had the grueling task of assigning rooms to over a hundred persons. There should have been several other officials helping her to deal with the multitudes, thereby enabling the process to be completed quickly.
My next issue is with the standard of accommodation in the dorms. I knew enough not to expect rooms of the standard of the Pegasus Hotel. However, I was hoping that the accommodation would be, at the very least, comfortable and conducive to learning. After accompanying her to her shared room on Sunday, I now realize how naive I had been. To say that the dorm room is comfortable would be a gross overstatement bordering on untruth. The beds look uncomfortably narrow. The stained mattress looks like it was recycled from a hospital or jail cell 10 years ago. The light in her dorm room does not work and neither do the electrical points. How is a student supposed to read and study without light? There is no internet access in the dorm rooms. This severely hampers students’ ability to engage in research.
I was horrified to learn that my young relative had to carry a bucket of water all the way to the bathroom on the third floor because the water had run out. I am completely baffled as to how a government-run institution, located just a few miles outside of Georgetown, does not have an adequate supply of running water.
Both past and present governments have constantly emphasized the importance of our teachers to the education system. However, the condition of the CPCE shows that their words are like dust in the wind. One wonders, does our government really care about our teachers? If so, why subject them to subpar living conditions while they are in training? The condition of the dormitories serves as one of numerous instances of neglect for the education system demonstrated by the PPP during their 23 years of rule. Pradovilles 1 and 2 which are not very far from the institution, serve as a stark contrast with luxurious pools and ostentatious, electricity-consuming chandeliers and also as a reminder that the previous government was more interested in fattening their pockets than helping the people of this country.
I would implore the current government not to make the same mistakes, but it seems that they are already a government prone to blunders. In particular, I take issue with the spending of $65 million dollars on an 80-member contingent to Haiti for CARIFESTA which was touted as an educational and cultural pursuit. I am in no way trying to belittle the importance of culture or CARIFESTA but I do believe that the government needs to prioritize. $65 million dollars could have been spent on making improvements to the administrative system and physical infrastructure of the CPCE. I am sure this would have represented a more significant contribution to the education system than CARIFESTA. Could the government not have been more modest in its contribution to CARIFESTA?
I strongly believe that it is never too late to do the right thing. Our teachers in training should be provided with a clean, comfortable, enabling and motivating learning environment. They should be provided with the basic necessities of an efficiently functioning educational institution: adequate water supply, electricity and internet access. I encourage the government to make our teachers a priority, not for their sake alone, but for the sake of the nation’s youth and the general improvement of the education system. Let us do every possible thing to make our society an educated one.
Concerned Observer

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