MOE should build secondary schools in Enterprise and Enmore

May 11, 2023 Letters

Dear Editor

Kaieteur News – The Ministry of Education (MOE) must be commended for its prompt response in its letter titled “Enmore, Paradise and Enterprise schools will not be closed” in the Kaieteur News of May 6th 2023. This was in response to my letter titled “Closure of Enmore, Paradise and Enterprise schools ill conceived” of 4th May 2023.

The MOE is placing considerable emphasis on the Good Hope Secondary School some 5 miles from Enmore which students will have to travel. No solution was offered to the dilemma of students having to travel this long distance during the morning rush hour with no available big buses.

Instead Mr. Saddam Hussein, Chief Education Officer (CEO) wrote that “Location of schools is determined by the availability of land, census data and school mapping software.” and “one of the goals of the current Education Sector Plan is the closure of all secondary departments in primary schools.” How old is that data which does not take into account economics?

An additional $520 million is being spent to complete construction of the Good Hope Secondary School. Why not build secondary schools adjoining the primary schools? Has it escaped the MOE that the Enterprise Primary school has lots of land to construct and house a secondary department? The Honourable Minister of Education visited the Enterprise Primary school twice. Did she not see that there was available land? Paradise and Bachelors Adventure students who are just next door can more conveniently attend secondary school at Enterprise. In fact, Enterprise-Nonpareil has grown some four times the size of the original Enterprise and can provide the necessary students.

The CEO pointed out that “the movement of the secondary school students from the primary school buildings will allow for the primary school students to have more space thereby increasing comfort.”

May I respectfully point out that apart from “comfort” is convenience and ease of such. The CEO also wrote “our statistics also indicate that large quantities of students travel from Enmore and further to schools in Georgetown.” With the MOE statistics also indicating “large quantities of students traveling from Enmore and further to schools in Georgetown” it convincingly makes the case to build a secondary school in Enmore for their comfort and convenience!.

I respectfully suggest such a decision on the placement of schools is a political decision for the Honourable Minister of Education. Her party would feel the wrath of parents from the economically depressed areas of Enterprise and Enmore. When students have to compete during the morning rush hour to travel through from Enmore, Foulis, Bachelors Adventure, Paradise, Enterprise, Nonpariel, Colindgen, Bladen Hall, Vigilance, Friendship, Buxton, Annandale Lusignan and then to Good Hope life would not be easy.

Respectfully
Sultan Mohamed

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