Residents of Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara, earlier this week shared their concerns with regard to how the pandemic has affected their children’s educational lives and their families’ economic status over the last two months.
The majority of the interviews were done with the mothers of these children, some whose husbands considered their spouses to be the ones more responsible for the children’s educational welfare while three of the mothers were single-parents.
Shaneeza Baksh, formerly of Wakenaam, is the matriarch of her extended family. She has two sons, who are second and seventh graders. Both children attend the ISA Islamic School in Georgetown. Baksh noted that her sons have been receiving weekly work online for all five school days. According to the woman, when school reopens the boys would be assessed and promoted to their respective classes.
Every other day the boys are given tests on the topics they would have done on the same day or the day prior. “At six o’clock work starts to come in and they would do them work and they would have Zoom meetings with their teachers several times a week”, the woman said. She listed an average of ten subjects her older son is doing adding that he has a timetable and does not have to do all the subjects in one day.
Whatever they may not understand, Baksh says she tries to help them comprehend, regardless of the topic. In recognition of the hardships caused by the pandemic, she has been given a forty per cent discount on her children’s tuition fees.
When it comes to the family’s livelihood, her husband is the breadwinner and is a vendor at the Stabroek Market which according to her, hasn’t been affected much as people are still in need of food. He sells ground provision, plantains and other vegetables.
Baksh’s mother-in-law who was standing nearby with two teenage sisters, mentioned that one of the girls will be sitting the CSEC examinations this year.
Rabbina Shaw and her sister Arifah hail from Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice. The elder of the sisters attends Bush Lot Secondary while the younger sister goes to Woodley Park Secondary. Rabbina will be writing five subjects come July/August. However, WhatsApp groups were only created for three subjects – Social Studies, Mathematics and English. The other two subjects are Geography and Physical Education, neither of which have been assigned online groups.
She noted that for last week she received one set of past papers to work with. Prior to then, the last time she was given any work was two weeks ago. Asked whether she is prepared to write the examinations, the teen said she has been studying whatever books she has and is prepared but added that she would have preferred for teaching to be done in online meeting sessions. Meanwhile, Arifa hasn’t been sent any lessons since she has been home. The two sisters are expected to return home with their mother when she comes to visit this week.
Their mother is raising the girls single-handedly. Currently, she is employed at the Woodley Park Neighbourhood Democratic Council and is paid months apart, as there is never a fixed date, which puts a strain on the family financially.
Wi-Fi
Samantha Balgobin has three daughters but only one attends school. Her youngest goes to La Retraite Primary School. Balgobin said that every day lessons are sent for her daughter but being a single mother she is unable to afford Wi-Fi or have data put in her phone. When her older daughters visit their grandmother who has internet, they are able to download whatever work was sent for their younger sister.
Stanleytown, she explained, is a really long village and to get out of the village most persons take a taxi. A one-way trip costs $100, which is sometimes more than she can spare. She relies on her older daughters to assist at home with the chores as well as running errands including getting their sister’s lessons as she (the mother) is not in the best of health having undergone surgery last September. However, the surgery wasn’t a complete success and she had to have another surgery done earlier this year.
Balgobin said she used to work but stopped after having the surgeries done. The children’s father visits every now and again but he doesn’t live with the family. He was employed at the Wales Sugar Estate for many years until it closed and after he lost his job he went into masonry. However, because of the pandemic he has since been without work for the last two months. The family depends on her mother and other relatives to assist them.
Oma Baldeo has a daughter who attends Belle West Primary School. School lessons, she said, are being sent on WhatsApp daily and she was able to save enough money to have Wi-Fi installed at their home last Saturday. Putting data in her phone was expensive she said, and that having to download the worksheets being sent was using up her data while some just won’t download. However, though work was coming daily as of last week, since she had her Wi-Fi antenna installed, she hasn’t received any lessons.
Baldeo said that she sees to it that her child uses her workbook and does revision of her school work. The woman said she tries to assist her daughter when she doesn’t understand a topic but can only do so much as she herself is not well informed on the subjects.
With regard to the family’s economic status at present, Oma shared that her husband is a porter and has been able to keep his job.
Abby McPherson has a ten year old who is currently in grade 5 at Genesis Early Childhood Education Centre. Her son has daily online video classes. His classes begins at 9 am and conclude at 3 pm. According to McPherson, he has his regular school breaks in between the sessions.
While his learning is up-to-date, McPherson said the only challenge is slow internet service. Since the area has no telephones, many rely on Atlantic Wireless Network for service.
Not wise
A teacher by profession, her opinion on children writing examinations during the pandemic is that it is not wise. “The children were prepared and they were brought to that level to write the exams. Then the pandemic came and everybody was at home. The children have been at home for a while. Yes, teachers have been teaching online but it’s not the same like when the children are in the classroom and based on that, I think children will be at a disadvantage to now have to return to school and in a matter of two to three weeks, they have to sit a national exam. If I was a part of the ministry, I would have gone for the option of a placement. I would follow through with the children’s performance in school, their most recent percentage from the classes they have been in and based on that I would have placed them into a secondary school or their respective classes,” she said.
Her husband is employed with the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and still has his job, so she is grateful that they are among the fortunate ones to still have their jobs.
Food vendor, Dolly Reddy, who sells at the Stabroek Market, has two children she sends to school. They both attend Belle West Primary School. Her son, Michael, is in grade three while her niece whom she has been caring for since she was a year old after her mother died, is in grade two.
Reddy said she’s heard that the teachers at the school are sending lessons via WhatsApp but without Wi-Fi and unable to purchase data, neither of the children are receiving lessons. Had it not been for the pandemic her niece would have been writing the grade two examinations this year. However, nothing was said of this exam by the Ministry of Education.
“The pandemic really affect me because I have a stall in the market and sometimes I go out, out there and nothing really sells. I have to pay a rent of $30,000 per month for the stall plus the market rent which is $11,600 a month. I would pay the market rent on the 14th of every month and by the month end I have to find the rest of the rent. With how things slow down, I owe two months’ rent. I don’t know how I’ll be able to pay them. Today I come home with $1,500. Some days ah come home with $500 when I done buy things to cook for the next day,” the woman disclosed.
Her husband farms but only for home use. “It’s tough, it’s really tough”, Reddy said.
Clinton Harmon has a sixth grader attending Genesis Early Childhood Education Centre. His son, Nathan, like McPherson’s son, has online school from 9am to 3pm also. He will be writing the NGSA examinations.
“He is prepared for his exams because he is working online. I think it’s okay and nothing to be worried about regarding the virus once there’s space for [social distancing] and they will be wearing their masks. The more we keep them back from the exam, the harder it get for them,” Harmon said.
Essential worker
When asked if he was prepared to write the exams, Nathan replied with a confident “Yep!”
Clinton said that he has a car of his own and will be taking his son to and from school come this week. Asked how he thinks Nathan will manage with having to wear a mask all day, he replied that his son will get by just fine.
As a farmer he is considered to be an essential worker, but according to Harmon, business has dropped significantly. He sells his farm produce to hucksters. “This pandemic has affected me big time. Not many people are buying like before but what you gone do, I got to try.”
Asked about tuition fees for the private school, the man said he hasn’t yet paid for the semester and has heard nothing from the school pertaining to this. Asked whether he think he’d have to pay the entire amount all at once, he added that he hoped not, as school was out for quite a while before Genesis took up teaching online. “It’s tough right now if the school calls for tuition fees but if they ask for fees then I don’t have a choice.”
“I have three children going to Belle West Primary,” stated Angela Mohamed, adding that the two younger children are in grade three. She explained that they are not twins but one started school later than she should have, while the eldest of the three is in sixth grade and preparing to write the NGSA exams.
“How we get the work on the phone for them, we print it out,” Mohamed said. The woman disclosed that they don’t have Wi-Fi installed and would therefore rely on using data. Every week they spend $2,000 to $3,000 on data.
Angela’s husband who stood nearby said he does not believe that much learning can be done through lessons being sent online. “Not all parents have the amount of education to teach the children so many children will drop back,” he opined.
Meanwhile, Angela said she has no idea how her daughter will be able to wear the mask for half of the day let alone all day on July 1 and 2 for the NGSA exams. She noted that whenever she and her children head out they wear their masks, adding that they often have difficulty wearing it for the short time they are out together when they go the supermarket.
Her husband is a contract driver at Gafoors and is paid on commission. According to the man, these days he rarely gets any work. “Before I might have mek like six trips to Linden or six trips to Parika, ah don’t get none now. So if I mek like $5,000, $10,000, nothing, that’s it. Before some days, I would work like $30,000 when the day is up. Nothing ain’t working right now,” he said.
Single parent, Susan Daniels, has three children, all of whom attend school. She is a clerk at Kalibur Security Service. Before she came to live at Stanleytown, she lived in Georgetown. Her children attend schools in Georgetown – Brickdam Secondary, St Ambrose Primary and Lodge Nursery. They are in year 1, grades 4 and 8.
Daniels confirmed that her daughter in grade eight is receiving her lessons online as well as her year-one nursery son. However, her daughter in grade four hasn’t received any lessons to date. While she is away at work, her eldest daughter takes care of her younger siblings. According to the woman she gets off from work at 1pm and once she gets home she takes care to teach her fourth grader the necessary lessons from her textbooks.
She noted that at the security firm she is allowed to work how many days she wants whether two or more and is paid for those days. However, because her hours are cut, she tries her best to work five or six days every week. Daniels shared that the pandemic has put a strain on her financially but added that since she has no help, she has to do the best she can.
