Dear Editor,
In the aftermath of Guyana’s worst fire that cut short the lives of 20 of our precious Amerindian children at Mahdia, there was some apparent “pass the buck” and blaming among Government Ministries. The Ministry of Education seemed to have been blaming the Ministry of Regional Development, that the Regional Ministry is responsible for the dorm, never mind the news photos showed it was the Education Minister who arrived with the first team walking on the debris. She was also in the first team arriving at the Karasabai dorm fire. Wonder why? The Regional Minister was not visible among the early arrivals. Some tried to include the Ministry of Home Affairs responsible for firefighting, in their calls for resignations of Ministers. The Government has not accepted responsibility for “systems failure” nor has it apologized. Instead, they kept the focus on the allegation that a student set the fire, therefore the Government goes Scot free. They have not disclosed any corroborative evidence or student confession as yet. Assuming it was a student arson, the students could not have escaped the deadly inferno because the dorm doors were locked and the windows were grilled down. Apparently, there were no alarms and extinguishers too. The Government must take responsibility for the litany of governmental failures, systems failures. The Government’s niceness in showing sympathy and paying for related travel and funeral expenses, does not substitute for or absolve it of responsibility for failing to follow up on fire inspection reports, and now the bombshell United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Report unearthed by the Stabroek News (`UNICEF review of school dorms last year highlighted myriad deficiencies,’ SN, June 5, 2023). This report revealed there was a UNICEF study done in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (not Regional Ministry) last year on all the dorms in Guyana. Many recommendations for improvement were made.
What happened at Mahdia reminds me of the story I learned in Sunday School titled “Whose Job Is It, Anyway?” This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. The story may be confusing but the message is clear: no one took responsibility so nothing got accomplished.
If the Ministry of Education controls the Mahdia School, it would be a senseless management design that the Education Ministry does not have oversight or responsibility for what happens at the Dorm. That absolutely does not make any sense. The UNICEF Report is an indictment of the Ministries’ mediocrity in operating all the dorms. It’s a study of abounding and pervasive inequities, failures, and “what not to do.” There was no evidence of best practices. The Dorm is an extension of the school. How can the Education Ministry tell the nation, don’t blame us? The UNICEF’s “Request for Proposal” for the Dorm Study stated, “This collaborative effort with the MoE is made possible through a project partnership between the Canada High Commission and UNICEF and aims to promote safe, secure, healthy learning environments for secondary school adolescent boys and girls living in dormitories in Guyana’s hinterland, through system strengthening and gender responsive programming for healthy lifestyles. The standards must consider:
• Floor spacing per child /adult across all living quarters – e.g. dining /sleeping /laundry and kitchen spaces, communal study area; sports facility living quarters for dormitory parents;
• Recommendations for the utilization of green technologies, access to sustainable water resources and safe sanitation methods, and the usage of local materials and skills as well as PV solar power where possible;
• Human resources requirements for every aspect of dormitory life – e.g. house parents; cooks; welfare officers/ counsellors; ancillary staff;
• financial implications for meeting comprehensive standards across the dormitory plant.”
Additionally, current ads in the newspapers show that the Ministry of Education, not Ministry of Regional Development, is inviting bids for repairs to several dorms. So, we need a Minister to talk fast who has major responsibility for the dorms, and who has supporting responsibility. But the Government side refusing to accept responsibility is simply untenable. The Nation must not let them sacrifice only the 15-year-old troubled teen to pay for a sin, when the multitude of sinners are in the Ministries. The public holds the Ministry of Education responsible. Let the public know why it’s your school but not your Dorm for the students in your school. Which Einstein designed it like that, if true?
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall
