Improved facilities are in place now at the Arapaima Primary School, Lethem following $2.78M worth of works spearheaded by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) and other agencies.
A release yesterday from the CDC said that US$13,500 was spent on an additional washroom, augmenting water storage and imparting disaster preparedness and response training to the teachers and students.
From January 21 to January 25, 2013 the work was done and the new facility handed over to the Headmistresses of the school in the presence of the Regional Executive Officer and Regional Education Officer, Region 9 by Colonel (retired) Chabilall Ramsarup, Director General, CDC. Twenty teachers from the region were trained as Shelter Managers while 170 students of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Grades from the Arapaima Primary benefited from training in basic disaster preparedness and response, and Water and Sanitation Hygiene.
A School Emergency Plan was also developed for the Arapaima Primary School. A similar project will be implemented during this year with another school in a disaster prone community, the release said. The Arapaima Primary School is usually used as an emergency shelter during emergencies and adverse events in the Lethem area.
The release said that the project was undertaken by the CDC in collaboration with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, The United Nations Children’s Fund and the Caricom/Brazil/Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)– Living Schools Initiative.
