Thieves broke into the lower section of the Lachmansingh Primary School at Bush Lot, West Berbice during Friday night and stole and destroyed items belonging to the students and teachers.
Headmistress (acting), Constance McCalmont made the discovery around 10.30 am yesterday when she visited the school to “finish off records and install teaching aids.” The vandals ransacked drawers and bookshelves from the grades one and two classrooms, destroyed books and scattered them everywhere.
They also broke the discs that the teachers use for the Interactive Radio Instruction Maths programme and destroyed plant experiments the pupils had done recently.
Students who had gone to assist the HM with the teaching aids alerted her to the fact that the door to the janitor’s room was open. Upon checking, she noticed that the thieves had helped themselves to sodas and confectionery and had scattered empty bottles and wrappers on the floor.
Further checks revealed that a window to the
auditorium where the classrooms are located had been broken and when students peered through they could see the items on the floor. It appeared as though the vandals had used two large bricks to break open the window.
McCalmont told this newspaper she used the key to open the door and saw the further “destruction.” She immediately contacted the deputy headmistress, Seelochanie Parsaram, other teachers and the education officers.
The police were also called in and they took statements from the teachers and the watchman who was supposed to be on duty.
The headmistress said she was unable to assess what had been stolen and the extent of the damage as the police had yet to return to take fingerprints. She said the vandals used chalk to write a phone number on one of the teachers’ desks.
This is not the first time the school had been vandalized, according to teachers, but on the other occasions they had treated it lightly. They also felt that some of the windows needed to be more secure.
