Orealla’s need for a secondary education facility is urgent, says Head Teacher of the village’s primary school, Carl Peneux, because the majority of residents have only managed to acquire a primary education.
“Imagine this,” Peneux told Stabroek News a week last Saturday, “you have hundreds of residents from both Orealla and Siparuta including the persons involved in managing our community who only have a primary education, therefore our ability for governance now and in the future is limited.”
In September, 2002 a $60M primary school was commissioned in Orealla. One of the building’s floors has since been converted into a “secondary flat” and caters for over 100 registered students with a secondary education.
However, Peneux told this newspaper that one floor only is not enough to dedicate to secondary education in the Orealla/Siparuta area.
The secondary flat, according to Peneux offers six subjects; these are Mathematics, English Language, English Literature, Social Studies, Integrated Science and Physical Education. These subjects were decided on by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, he said, because they “are fairly simple.”
At the time the secondary flat programme commenced, Peneux said, they had three World Teach volunteers and two from Project Trust in addition to four local teachers. However, after the rise in crime after 2002 the World Teach volunteers left, and Orealla is still suffering a shortage of staff. There are about 15 teachers, including the primary school staff. Two local teachers are presently enrolled at the Cyril Potter College of Education for training and this is puttng more pressure on the rest.
“We have it a little hard now,” Peneux said. “But we are happy to know that two of our own have made it to further their education and we always try to push them towards improving their education.”
At the formal ceremony launching the celebration of Amerindian Heritage at Orealla the Orealla/Siparuta Toshao/Village Captain highlighted the fact that Orealla needed a secondary institution. However, Prime Minister Sam Hinds indicated that the secondary flat was already in place and a “step-by-step” plan would be taken towards replacing it with a secondary school.
Hinds also noted the $15M dormitory which was built at Orealla to house students from that community as well as from neighbouring Siparuta. The dormitory also provides free meals for students and reduces transportation costs for parents.
Peneux said that both Orealla and Siparuta are grateful for the dormitory and it has provided many advantages, but it is still not enough to solve the education issues in the area.
Orealla youths, Peneux said, are not motivated to attend school at the secondary flat because of the limited resources available.
“When I look at these students,” Peneux told Stabroek News, “I see the depression in them… they seem to be always wondering where they would go from here and what they could possibly do.”
Five computers were also donated to the Orealla Primary School years before the community had access to electricity, Peneux said. However, there is no one to teach the students how to use the computers.
“A few days ago was the first time I used a computer,” Peneux said. “We have students here who are capable of doing well… students who want to learn but give up because we don’t have the facilities or their parents can’t afford to send them to the mainland.”
