The Mahdia Secondary School has had its problems in the past

May 24, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News- Mahdia Secondary School, the scene of this week’s tragedy has had its problems before. The school has not often been in the news but mostly when it did it was for the wrong reasons.
As far as is known, Mahdia Secondary School is one of only three secondary schools in Region 8. The others are Kato Secondary School and the Paramakatoi Secondary School. The vastness of the region, the limited number of students and the long distances which some have to travel to attend school made it necessary for dormitories to be established. And yet despite its many isolated and far-flung communities, Region 8 has had an impressive rate of primary school enrollment. In fact between 2014 and 2018, its enrollment rate was far better than Region 4’s enrollment rate. But enrollment does not translate to attendance. The Region has fared poorly in this area, and this fact would have also informed the decision to build school dormitories.
However, having dormitories come with its problems.

The students do not have their own rooms or even shared rooms. They sleep in the presence of others and therefore privacy is a problem. The lack of privacy is known to increase the level of stress and inconvenience experienced by children. It could also distract students from studying; in fact it is difficult to imagine how students can study effectively in a dormitory housing dozens of children.
With students now having all kinds of gadget on which they can play and listen music, this can be another problem.
Then there is the noise which is created when students get together to have fun before lights out. In an environment where dozens of students are housed in one facility, there is bound to be personality conflicts. This can lead to fights and strained relations.
Having students housed in dormitories greatly increases the risk of the spread of infectious diseases. And this poses health risks for the school population. A virus spreading in a dorm can force the closure of the entire school
Personal safety is major issue. Students, especially female students have to be protected from intruders include larcenists.
In some cases the theft is done by fellow students. Schools with dormitories in Guyana also have problems peculiar to Guyana. A few years ago, the Kaieteur News highlighted situations where students we being forced to fetch whether to bathe and wash and in another instance they were forced to gather and fetch firewood for cooking.

This was certainly not the reasons why their parents sent them to dormitory schools.
And then there are the necessary restrictions which can become intrusive and which, as we have seen, pose a serious threat to safety in the event of an emergency. Over the years, the Mahdia Secondary School has had its fair share of troubles. In fact, the school has exhibited much of the problems associated with having dormitories.
At one time, a former male student of the school was found in the female dormitory. This would have no doubt led to tighter security measures which in themselves could have led to difficulties in exiting the female dormitory during Monday morning’s fire.
At another time, there were complaints about the lighting in the compound of the schools dormitory. It was the community policing group which had discovered this problem and brought it to the attention of the authorities. There were concerns about the threat it posed to the security of the students there.
The problems were not only limited to students. Even teachers have had complaints.

A few years back, a headmistress of the school had complained about the insanitary conditions in the building in which she was designated to live. She was later provided accommodation in a guest house. But this proved even more abysmal since it was claimed that the conditions there were not much better.
Ten years ago, it was reported in the media that a teacher of the school was caught semi-nude with a student. The student was found at the living quarters of the teacher. The regional authorities and police were called in. The media did not seem too interested in following up on this report which it publicised.
There have also been para-normal and abnormal developments at Mahdia Secondary School. In November 2012, classes had to be suspended after a report that some female students had showed signs of being possessed by evil spirits. On another occasion, pandemonium broke out after some children began to scream and contort their bodies as if possessed by demons. In the ensuing melee damage was done to the school property.
The school comes under the control of the Regional Democratic Council and that Council will have a lot of questions to be answered about the recent development. But the educational authorities will have to determine whether the stigma which will be caused by this tragic fire should not lead to a relocation of this school.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• 19 children killed in Guyana school dormitory fire, Mahdia Secondary School, Paramakatoi Secondary School, Regional Democratic Council

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