Teachers and students of the Grove Primary School are upset over the water pressure level being supplied to the school which forces them to work and learn in an unsanitary environment.
The school’s Deputy Head told Stabroek News on Wednesday that there was not enough water to flush the toilets, which had become deplorably smelly. Students are forced to wash their hands at a cut-off pipe just over a drain in the schoolyard.
She said the school has a storage facility and two tanks for storing water, but because of the low water pressure there was not enough water to pump into the tanks and as a result one tank in a reservoir in the school’s compound has collapsed.
The matter was reported and the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) responded by contacting the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Four and the Guyana Water Incor-porated (GWI). Omar Khan, Chairman of the Golden Grove/Diamond Place NDC told Stabroek News that they visited the school on Tuesday to assess the situation.
As a result a letter was written to the RDC, as requested by that agency, and contact made with Doodmattie Singh the Regional Educational Officer. GWI advised NDC personnel to contact their representative in the area to look at the situation and said it would send some water to the school.
Overseer of the NDC Balraj Budwah said GWI flushed out the system and patched a pipe leading to the septic tank. However, the broken pipe referred to by the deputy head is still to be fixed.
Budwah said also that from information he received the RDC Vice Chairman as well as the Regional Envi-ronmental Officer visited the school on Wednesday.
Khan explained that such issues are not normally within the ambit of the NDC but as Budwah put it “out of goodwill” they try to assist with alleviating problems there and at other schools in the area. A similar situation, Budwah said, exists at the Diamond Primary School. So even though that school has new toilet facilities there is not enough water to ensure proper use.
NDC officials said further that there seemed to be a need for more wells in the area as not only the schools were experiencing low water pressure but residents generally, as a result of the rapid expansion of the population there. (Christopher Yaw)
