The surprise closure of schools has caused problems

Dear Editor,

The sudden closure of school for the Easter Term is in bad taste. Someone must’ve had a dream the night before and awoken on Tuesday morning with the news that schools across the nation would be closed. Why weren’t teachers informed earlier about this closure? Examinations would have been scheduled a week earlier to cater for the closure. Hence, marking and preparation of end of term records (including students’ reports) could’ve been completed and distributed by this Friday.

News of the closure spread like wildfire on Tuesday morning of this week. Then one of the newspapers carried a notice from the Government Information Agency in the same day’s edition on page 10 no less. I would’ve expected that a news item of such a nature would have been placed on the front pages of the three daily newspapers. Up to this point, no circular has been dispatched to schools. I guess teachers are not really worth anything in this country.

The article in Tuesday’s Stabroek News (SN) stated that schools would now be closed on July 13, 2007 for the August Term “to make up for lost time”. That is so unfair. The question arises of when schools would reopen for the Christmas Term? Just three days were taken out of this current term and one extra week of school is added on to the August Term.

What “lost time” is the Ministry of Education speaking about? Many teachers would be going to their places of work on Wednesday, Thursday and even Friday to complete end of term records. End of term examinations are completed and there is no formal teaching which usually takes place during the last week of school. So why should teachers have to spend an extra week at school in the August Term?

This sudden closure of school has thrown schools all across Guyana into chaos. Students can no longer uplift progress reports on Friday, and many end of term records might not be completed.

This backwardness is unacceptable! But then again this is Guyana we’re talking about.

Yours faithfully,

Leon Jameson Suseran