Contractor blacklisted
After a week’s delay in the scheduled re-opening of school, followed by the subsequent suspension of classes due to insanitary conditions, sessions at the Stella Maris Primary School finally got underway yesterday.
When Stabroek News visited the school yesterday there was a marked improvement in the condition of the building and compound. On Monday, when this newspaper went to the school, it was in a deplorable state with dust-filled classrooms, a swampy compound and areas shrouded by high grass. There were also several live-electrical wires which were left exposed. The school had undergone extensive rehabilitation work during the August holidays and adequate cleaning had clearly not followed.
According to a senior teacher who asked not to be named there has been an 85% improvement in the condition of the school since Monday. She said that stringent efforts were made to get the place in some sort of order. And while there is still much work to be done, she was optimistic that by this weekend everything will put in place. She said that since Monday, officials from the Ministry of Education had been to the school and had made efforts to get the school ready in time. The teacher said that efforts were still ongoing to get the school in tip-top shape. When this newspaper was at the scene, a man was seen clearing grass at a section of the compound.
She also said that the exposed live electrical wires are yet to be adequately dealt with. She explained that a temporary solution had been found but they were expecting GPL to go into the school and to fix the problem.
The source also confirmed what was obvious to this newspaper- the attendance of the students was down. Also, there was not a full turnout of teachers either, since there were a few classes that were left unsupervised. However, in some classes the teachers were seen diligently working with the students.
Meanwhile, Minister of Education Shaik Baksh said that the Ministry was investigating whether the broken pipe, which led to the flooding of the school yard, was deliberately damaged by someone. Speaking at yesterday’s meeting with parents of students who attend schools in the North-East Georgetown district held at the St. Joseph’s High School, Baksh said that the ministry had cause to believe that someone with evil intentions may have deliberately damaged the pipe. He, however, said that the contractor hired to do the work was negligent and stated that he has since been blacklisted by the Ministry. (Mark McGowan)