Residents of the Tuschen New Housing Scheme are calling for a building constructed to house a health centre to be converted to a nursery school saying that this is a more urgent need and the building has not been used since it was completed.
But Region Three Chairman Julius Faerber says that the reason it was not activated was because it was not hooked up to the electricity grid and it was not grilled. He told Stabroek News that it now has an electricity supply and the tender has been advertised inviting contractors to bid to grill the structure. He said that the region hopes to have this completed before the year is done and the centre will be opened then. The chairman revealed that the electricity was hooked up last month and the grill is necessary because without the building being secure, they could not store drugs inside. A guard is currently employed at the site.
The chairman also denied that the building had been constructed three years ago as claimed by residents, stating that it had been constructed last year.
Residents had told this newspaper that the building was constructed about three years ago and ever since, it remained closed.
“The building ain’t serving the community in no way,” said one resident, who contacted this newspaper. Several persons living close to the building at the Tuschen New Housing Scheme, East Bank Essequibo said that there is no immediate need for a health centre in the community but a more pressing issue is the necessity for a nursery school.
“The thing stall up deh for so long,” one woman pointed out reiterating resident’s call for the building to be converted to a nursery school.
Faerber said that there was no question of this, revealing that the Basic Needs Trust Fund had signed a contract last week to construct a primary school in the community. He said that this building will house a nursery department. And when money is available, a nursery school will be constructed, he stated.
But residents argued that a heath centre is not an immediate necessity. They told this newspaper that a large number of very small children have to catch buses and other transportation just to get to school.
They said that this costs a lot of money and some parents — many single-parents — cannot afford this. Converting the building to a nursery school will relieve them of a financial burden, they noted.
Declaring that there is no immediate need for a health centre in the area, the residents pointed out that the Meten-meer-Zorg Health Centre and the Leonora Diagnostic Centre “with all the facilities” are nearby. They recalled that several months ago a nursery school child was crushed to death by a minibus in the area.
They argued that the Diamond Housing Scheme on the East Bank Demerara has “everything”, while at the Tuschen Scheme there are no schools, police station, proper playground or even proper roads.
“Tuschen really need everything,” one parent commented reiterating their call for the building to be converted into a nursery school.