Concerned parents at the Enmore/Hope Primary School, frustrated at the condition of the building, are calling on the relevant authorities to have it renovated, or they would refuse to have their children attend classes there since it poses as a health and safety risk.
Parents said that for the past five years the school has been neglected and the authorities are not heeding their complaints. The parents, yesterday, gathered in front of the East Coast Demerara School and renewed their call to have a safe building for their children.
A senior teacher at the school said that they have made several complaints to the authorities, but they all went unheard. She added that the building has deteriorated to the extent where the students are afraid to attend school.
“…When it rains… their books and clothes get soaked because of the leaky roof. Just the other day it was raining and I went to put on the light switch and it began sparking because of the water falling on it,” the woman recounted.
She added that the situation affects the learning capabilities of the students and their grades fluctuate during the dry and rainy seasons because many of them stay away during the rainy season.
She added that just recently thieves entered the building freely because of the lack of windows and removed a quantity of items; to date no one has been arrested.
Head of the School’s Parents Teachers Association (PTA), Rohit Deonarine, told Stabroek News that they have sent several letters to Region-al Education Officer, Barbra Andrews, but those letters were never acknowledged.
“We met with the officials this morning [yesterday] and they said that they understand our concerns and they see that things need to be done but they never knew of it,” he said.
The visit from the regional officials left the PTA members astonished since they had not visited the school for approximately six years and only showed up after parents threatened to close the school owing to the risk it poses to their children’s health and safety.
Deonarine said that after intense deliberations within the PTA group they decided to use yesterday as an eye opener for the authorities who have been “deliberately neglecting” the school and its immediate environment.
“…Parents came together and said that the condition of the school is not conducive to proper learning because if you look around you will see the broken windows and the leaking roofs and the broken stairs. It’s like you coming here to protect yourself, rather than enjoy a day’s work or learning,” he said.
The PTA head added that he does not expect everything to be fixed in the school overnight because he understands that the process will take time, but he hopes the authorities will begin working on the building as soon as the August vacation period commences.
He said when school reopens they “expect the toilets to be fixed and to be in working order, the fence and leaking roof to be repaired and the stairs, which is our main concern, to be renovated to ensure our children are safe.”
He added that the school is laden with “damaged columns” that upholds the building and that is one of the many reasons parents are keeping their children away from school.
He said, “We don’t want people to come here and to be in fear we want a child-friendly school and teachers to be comfortable.”
He lauded the Ministry of Education for their approach to strategic improvement in teaching but noted that the only way the students will learn is if they are in an environment that supports their creative thinking.
A visibly upset parent told Stabroek News that her 8-year old daughter was injured while ascending the flight of steps when one of the boards slipped and she rolled to the ground sustaining abrasions about her body.
“When me daughter fall down pon the step me had to keep she home from School fuh 3 days and all of that ah mek she fall behind [in her school work],” said, Savita Jaipaul, the upset parent.
Jaipaul said she is calling on the relevant authorities, including the Minister of Education, to look into the situation. She added that it is the minister’s job to ensure that when students return in September for the new school year the building is habitable.
