Upset over the “unhealthy environment” in which their children were being educated, angry parents yesterday “closed down” the Belladrum Primary School and staged a protest in front of the Regional Democratic Council office at Fort Wellington, demanding better conditions.
The parents told Stabroek News yesterday that the sand would blow from the school compound and cause the children to get sick as some suffer from asthma. Another child had died from bronchitis. They also said that “our children head getting fungus from the dust and one time when Ms. [Philomena Sahoye-] Shury visited, she sent someone to inspect the fungus. So it is not like they don’t know what is going on.”
A parent, Lloyd Liefde told Stabroek News that “sand would fly like storm and get into the classrooms. The teachers have to use plastic to block up the ventilation to keep the sand out.” This, he said would result in the teachers and students suffocating and “it is impossible to function under such condition.”
Apart from that, the parents are upset that an old pit latrine in the school compound has not been removed and spot filled up even after “flush” toilets were built about five years ago. According to them, “sometimes when the breeze blow the children would have to run out of the classrooms.” They said too that the children do not have a play area and would play close to the old latrine.
Liefde said too that in June the headmistress of the school had asked a regional official to use the school for a church service and he said he could not give permission because the school was unhealthy. “If the school is unhealthy to use one day, how come is healthy for over 500 children to use every day?” the man questioned. He called for a tarmac to be built to put an end to the situation with the sand.
The parents said the regional officials were supposed to take care of the problem over the school holidays but this was not done. Liefde said they put up with the situation last week thinking it would have changed by the new week.
However, when the children returned to school yesterday nothing had changed and the parents had “enough” and immediately closed the school. They said it would remain that way until the situation is rectified.
The parents displayed placards that bore, among other things, the slogans: “Use our money wisely; the yard is unhealthy,” “We need a clean environment, enough is enough,” “…Our children cannot breathe” and “Save our children.”
During the protest, six parents were invited to a meeting with Regional Chairman Harrinarine Baldeo, Regional Executive Officer Floyd France and Regional Development Officer Govind Singh in an effort to resolve the issue.
The six parents agreed with the proposals put forward by the regional officials to “soak” the sand every afternoon and to apply crusher run temporarily until enough funds are available to make the tarmac.
However, when this was related to the other parents, they bluntly refused the offer, saying that “it would be back to square one and we are not taking that….”
In an invited comment, Baldeo told Stabroek News that the problem with the sand was there for some time but “not to this extent.” He said the region had filled up the school yard once at the request of the parents.
The chairman said that with the dry weather now on the sand would indeed fly more. He said yesterday morning he received a report about the sand and he went to the school to inspect it. He agreed that “it is a real problem but we are trying to resolve it… I didn’t know that it would have reached this stage… it is regrettable.”
According to him, “Down the line we are looking for a long-term solution and we would pave the school yard next year.” He reiterated that in the interim, they would be soaking the yard every afternoon until the crusher run is applied.
He also noted too that the fence is bad and the region had repaired it but cows would still get in and “mess up the place and I had to pay the NDC [Neighbourhood Democratic Council] to clean up the mess.” He said some residents allow their cows to be in the school yard and that “goats and sheep would be on the back steps.”
With regard to the latrine, he said it would be dealt with immediately.
