A food shortage at the Annai Secondary School which resulted in students at the dormitory only receiving one meal last Wednesday has been addressed, Region Nine Chairman Clarindo Lucas said yesterday.
Lucas said the shortage occurred after contractor Sucil Kissoon did not deliver the supplies for October and the Region intervened to rectify the situation. Lucas said that the contractor had informed him that there was a problem with the delivery truck.
The regional chairman said that the truck has since arrived at the destination.
On Monday, Regional Executive Officer (REO) Samwar denied reports of a food shortage at the school. He denied reports that students had been receiving one meal per day and told Stabroek News (SN) that reports of a shortage had been investigated and were found to be baseless. When this information was put to Lucas yesterday, he told Stabroek News the Region had received a “false alarm” last weekend. He said, as Samwar had said, they had received a report that because of food shortages parents were taking their children home, some of whom lived about 75 miles away.
Lucas said the region immediately sent a team into the area and the headmistress assured them that it was groundless. The head teacher reportedly told the investigators that following a day of sports some students asked for permission to go home but rather than send them on their own she asked their parents to collect them.
The team said at no time did the head teacher indicate that the school was low on supplies or that they were awaiting supplies for October. “If she had said something the regional administration would have ensured that the food items are sent to the school even if we had to take emergency steps,” Lucas said.
The chairman said on Tuesday they received another report about the food shortage and a team was again despatched to the school. It was then that they discovered that the children had only received one meal on Wednesday. The Region then supplied the school with a week’s rations as they awaited a response from Kissoon. Lucas said Kissoon does not have access to a telephone. Yesterday in a letter to this newspaper, Senior Councillor of the Annai Village Council, Michael Williams, said that there has been a continuing food shortage at the school. He said that he saw a letter from the Department of Education stating that the budget should not exceed $400,000, a sum this newspaper understands works out to $34 per meal for the 132 children at the school. Williams also said that the cooks would normally buy supplementary items using their personal funds, or sometimes parents or benevolent persons would buy items to add to the meals. On Monday Samwar had also denied that figure was indeed the sum allocated and instead he had invited this newspaper to visit the region where the sum could be verified. The REO said he had been at the council since March and gave assurances that since he took up this post there had been no food shortage at the school.
Lucas confirmed the sum to SN and agreed that it may be inadequate. The money is not given to the school; rather, the regional office gives it to the contractor.
He said that sum was allocated for the school in the national budget however; it did not cater for as many passes at the school. Lucas said other schools in the region are also experiencing this problem and the head teachers and regional officials are to meet with the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs on the issue.
Lucas said the Region is closely monitoring the situation and that he has appointed the District Development Officer at Annai to be the liaison officer at the school so that any problems can be reported to the regional office.
In the interim Lucas said the Region stands ready to assist the school should the rations finish before the matter can be addressed with the contractor. “I think it is just a breakdown in communication but we are on top of the situation now,” he said.
He said though the matter is “alarming” they had never before had any problems with Kissoon’s service. (Oluatoyin Alleyne)
