Tucked away at the end of a dirt path, the sign proclaims ‘Success Market Complex’ but children as young as four years old enter the building practically every day equipped with their little lunch bags and notebooks.
They are not there to sell but rather to learn and the edifice is no longer a market but has been converted to a nursery school but the sign remains.
It is only upon taking a closer look that one sees an indication that children are occupants of the building. On the lower portion of the wall painted letters state ‘Together we play, learn and grow’ with paintings of Pooh Bear underneath. Otherwise the building does not look like the nursery school which it has been converted to.
Unlike other buildings, built for a purpose but then abandoned, this building is being utilized. But it too passed through a period of being a white elephant.
Recounting the history of the building, Chairman of the La Bonne Intention/Better Hope Neighbourhood Demo-cratic Council (NDC), Thakur Persaud related that the Success Community Deve-lopment Council had lobbied for the building to be constructed. It was done through the Social Impact Amelio-ration Programme (SIMAP) with Inter-American Deve-lopment Bank funding about eight years ago. But after construction was completed and the market opened it was barely occupied for about a year. The competing nearby and larger Mon Repos market proved too much while accessibility to the building especially during rainy weather was proving to be a problem. Persaud recounted that at the time it was the only land available and the NDC had built the tarmac in front as its contribution. He said that the council also made some tables and charged a sum for rental but it was not enough to meet the bills and was uneconomical. He said that the building was abandoned for about two and a half years.
Then there was a proposal to modify the building and convert it to a nursery school because the Chateau Margot School, which catered to that community and Success, was overcrowded. The proposal remained for a while and there were talks with the Ministry of Education and then the building was finally handed over. He said that the building was modified but noted that it had good toilets.
For parents, who have children currently attending the school, they are glad for the convenience of having a school close to home. This newspaper spoke with a few parents, who, while expressing their gratitude for the school stated that the building and its surroundings could do with a few improvements.
Chief among these was the access road to the compound. The front is currently a dirt path which becomes muddy whenever it rains. “Nuff, nuff mud does be in front of the school”, one parent said.
Behind the building too is a dirt path while at the side there is a potholed road. Persaud said that the NDC was lobbying the region for money to upgrade the access road. “We are fighting, we are lobbying, we are begging”, he asserted.
Apart from the upgrading of the access roads other parents feel that a little more can be done. Savitrie Arjune, whose son attends the school, stated that there is need for a shed outside as sometimes the little children are taken outside and are in the sun. She stated too that there is a need to clean the compound and its drains. For Shanaaz, whose son and daughter attend the school, access during rainy weather is a problem and she said that she sometimes does not send them.
“The school compound don’t really weed steady”, one parent said while another said that her concern was that at times teachers requested that students take toilet paper and cleaning detergent and money to pay for someone to clean up the school. She said some parents “can’t afford at all times to give them”.
The parents all agreed however, that the school was “okay and convenient”. (Gaulbert Sutherland)
