-Santa Rosa school PTA
– AFC says will help install some
In the wake of the death of a student in a pit latrine, the Santa Rosa school PTA says it has been lobbying for years for modern toilets to no avail and the Alliance For Change (AFC) yesterday offered its assistance.
Meanwhile, the more than 700 students at the Santa Rosa Primary now have access to the one flush toilet available at the school following the tragic death of nine-year-old Tenesha De Souza. She fell into the pit latrine two Mondays ago.
At a press conference, the AFC said that it was prepared to join with like-minded groups and individuals in installing flush toilets at that school and hoped the Ministry of Education or other agencies would not be directed to prevent their efforts.
At the Sidewalk Café, AFC Leader Raphael Trotman said the party was outraged by the statement made by Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh to Stabroek News that pit latrines at hinterland schools were adequate and was appalled to know that there were those who administer the affairs of children who still espouse these ancient views.
Trotman called on Minister in the Ministry of Education Dr Desrey Fox, Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand to urgently step in and save what was developing into a “rather stinking situation.”
Both ministers Sukhai and Rodrigues-Birkett had their primary education at the Santa Rosa Primary School, as well as a former Amerindian affairs minister, Vibert De Souza.
Trotman said Guyanese, particularly Amerindians, deserve better and to be treated with respect. The country’s population was not 70 million but 700,000 and so the cost of installing flush toilets on an incremental basis would not bankrupt the state, he said.
Meanwhile, Chairperson of the school’s Parent-Teachers Association (PTA), Mark Atkinson, told Stabroek News yesterday that while the lone flush toilet was for the use of the teachers they have allowed the children to use the facility following the tragedy.
He said that initially two toilets, with three bowls, were built several years ago for the teachers following the lobbying of then headmaster, Carl Rodrigues, along with other teachers and parents. But the toilets were just for the teachers while the children had to continue using pit latrines.
In a press release issued yesterday, the school’s PTA said that for years it has been “lobbying the government for modern hygienic waste disposal systems for the school, which has the highest school population in the village with an enrollment of 700+ children from ages 5 years 9 months to 12 years.”
The PTA said it was once again appealing to the government, non-governmental organisations and civic-minded persons to assist in making its vision of improved modern, sanitary facilities for the children a reality. “To this effect, the PTA has embarked on this project with material contribution of sand and stone to ensure that the urgent need of the children is met,” the release said.
The release also said that contrary to a report in the last Sunday Stabroek there was no opposition to the dismantling of the latrine following the child’s death. It added that the issue was high on the agenda of all meetings held after the tragedy.
Several persons and groups, including the two main Amerindian groups and political parties, have called for pit latrines to be outlawed at schools and replaced with flush toilets.
Baksh had said earlier that his ministry would not be phasing out the latrines at schools since they were internationally accepted as proper sanitary disposal.
