Following pictures that surfaced on social media on Wednesday, showing pupils sitting in a classroom at St. John’s Primary School in Bartica with umbrellas while it was raining, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, has announced that the school will be temporarily closed to facilitate repairs.
On Wednesday, pictures of children sitting in a classroom at St John’s Primary School in Bartica with umbrellas went viral. According to the pictures seen, it was raining during the class session and the children were using umbrellas.
Manickchand in a Facebook post stated that the situation was brought to her attention and she found the pictures unacceptable. Further, the school comes under the management of the Regional Democratic Council of Region Seven, which reports to the Ministry of Local Government and is therefore responsible for repairs and maintenance.
The Minister added that the responsible departments were contacted. According to the responses Manickchand received, “REO and REDO visited the school in November and the headteacher made complaints about the roof. With savings from 2023, the Region contacted Clinton Isaac’s Contracting on December 5, 2023, to service and replace zinc sheets, upgrade the windows from wood to custom-made aluminum windows and minor electrical works. The zinc sheets have been replaced already but the new windows are custom aluminum, they had to be made. The windows were only delivered recently but because classes are ongoing, they were not installed.”
Furthermore, “The heavy downpour of rain today did not leak through the roof, as that matter was already resolved. The rain came from the broken windows. However, now that the new windows have been received, the contactor has committed to finishing all installation of windows by Friday.”
The contact valued $4.473 million was expected to be executed in 40 days with a 60-day defects liability period, the response stated.
The Education Minister noted that the Chief Education Officer was advised to take the necessary actions to ensure that the children are not wet while learning. As a result, the school will be temporarily closed and distance education will be delivered while repairs are ongoing.
