Some students of the Itabali Primary School, Mazaruni had to be relocated following damage to the building said to have been aggravated by blasting at a nearby quarry.

Regional Education Officer of Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), Mayfield Benjamin, yesterday confirmed that the students who occupied the upper flat of the two-storey school were relocated to the community centre building. She told Stabroek News that the roof and walls of the upper flat of the school were damaged along with the stairway which had to be boarded up to prevent students from using it.

Asked what had caused the damage to the school, Benjamin said that she believed that the constant blasting at the quarry had damaged the building. The decision to relocate the students came following a meeting with parents and teachers on Monday morning.

The quarry is owned by BK International Inc. When Stabroek News contacted the company this newspaper was told that the managing director is the only person allowed to speak and he was out of the office. However, a source told Stabroek News it is an “impossibility” for blasts from the quarry to damage the school because it is located about a mile a way. “That can never happen,” the source said.

Meanwhile, some parents of the school are still not happy with the arrangement made by the regional officials as they feel the entire school should be vacated.  They said that the damage makes it necessary for all the children to vacate the building as it is unsafe. One parent told Stabroek News that a post is damaged and the school building has tilted.

The parents were adamant that the damage to the school was done by the quarry. “Every time there is a blast the whole place does vibrate and the school building does shake,” one parent said.

Initially the children were under a mango tree before the relocation decision was taken by the regional officials.