Students of the Itabali Primary School, Mazaruni who were relocated following damage to the building said to have been aggravated by blasting at a nearby quarry, returned to the building last month, after some repairs were executed.
According to the Regional Executive Officer of Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), Peter Ramoutar, there was no immediate danger to the students, who will return there for classes when school reopens next month.
In October, some of the children were relocated to the community centre building as the roof and walls of the upper flat of the school’s building were damaged, along with the stairway which had to be boarded up to prevent students from using it.
Regional Education Officer Mayfield Benjamin and parents had told Stabroek News in October that the damage to the building was believed to have been caused by the constant blasting at the quarry. However, Ramoutar last week said he was not competent to say what caused the damage but found it “very strange” that a quarry that has been around for almost 30 years could have caused damage to the school when other structures in the area, some closer to the quarry, were not affected. He suggested that the scare the building gave parents and teachers in October was caused by the deterioration of the building over time, adding that when the building was constructed its foundation was not the same as other buildings. He said that the building might have been built on stilts which would have caused it to “vibrate more than other buildings in the area”.
The quarry is owned by BK International Inc and when Stabroek News contacted the company in October a source said it was an “impossibility” for blasts from the quarry to damage the school because it was located about a mile a way. “That can never happen,” the source had said.
But parents, with whom this newspaper had spoken, were adamant that the damage to the school was done by the quarry. “Every time there is a blast the whole place does vibrate and the school building does shake,” one parent said.
Meanwhile, Ramoutar said there had been no complaints since the completion of the repairs and regional officials were satisfied that the building had been made safe for its occupants. He said the region has since submitted a report on the work done to the ministries of Education and Local Government while revealing there are plans to do some more work next year as soon as budgetary allocations were received. However, the work might not be needed because the education ministry may very well erect a new school building.
