Dear Editor,
There is one secondary school in the Mabaruma Sub-region which caters mainly for the successful Grade Six Assessment pupils. There is no secondary school to cater for those pupils who did not get the required marks to attend the North West Government Secondary School. As a result our children are accommodated in the Hosororo Primary School – Primary Top department.
Editor, as a parent of a riverain child, I would like to bring to the attention of the Minister of Education and other education officials the following issues which affect our children.
First, many of our children have to travel miles by boat and by land to reach school every day. Some leave home as early as six o’clock. Others are absent because daily transportation fares are costly. Editor, how can our children learn when they have to travel for hours before reaching school?
No dormitory facilities are available here. We were promised a dorm to accommodate our children. To date this promise never materialized. Our secondary children are packed together with the primary school children. Both the secondary and primary students/pupils use the same toilets. That is not fair.
We were told at a PTA meeting that a wing would be built to ease the congestion, but Editor, we do not need a wing. We need a comfortable secondary school for our children. Building a wing serves only for a time. Every year we will have students who do not gain a place at the NWGS. Where will these children be accommodated? Will the building of wings continue on these primary tops as the years go by?
Another issue is the kind of teachers who teach in the secondary department. Our children are being taught by primary teachers. English A has not been taught for two years since there is no English teacher. At present there is no teacher to teach Social Studies. Furthermore, this school does not get secondary textbooks. We were told that this is because this school is not a real secondary school. It’s a primary top.
I wish that the Minister of Education would look into this matter immediately.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
