By Cathy Richards
The Parent-Teachers Asso-ciation of St. Aidan’s Primary School has expressed disgust at the slothfulness of the Department of Education and the Regional Administration in addressing problems of mosquito infestation and the non-supply of water at the school.
Since June this year the school has been without water, a situation which has resulted in cleaners having to walk long distances to fetch water to conduct daily chores.
According to PTA president Lorraine Ross, the Department of Education was written to by the school’s head teacher Carol Brown who also made several follow-up calls but has not yet received any positive action.
On the issue of non-supply of water, Ross said that the problem is a simple one since it is the pump that has gone bad. She added that while the cleaners are going the extra mile to fetch water on a daily basis, their efforts are futile because of the size and population of the school.
“They tried to do what little they could but they can never fetch enough water every day to clean this entire school, it is totally impossible,” Ross said.
The PTA head said that they became very concerned when they tried to follow-up the matter and were told that a senior education officer had said that the PTA is weak.
“It seems as if the leaders of this community want a public display before they do what they have to do. They referred to us as being weak because the situation stretched out for so long but we were only giving them time to do what they have to do without us putting pressure on them.”
She said further that “making sure that those facilities are in place is their responsibility and whether it is reported by the head teacher or the PTA they have a right to deal with it immediately.”
A tour of the facility revealed the plight and health risks facing teachers and students alike. Without opening the toilet doors, the heavy stench of faeces and urine assails you. And once the doors are opened the evidence is disgusting to the extent that the toilet bowls are overflowing with excrement and a horde of worms.
One cleaner explained that because they could not fetch enough water every day the toilets became clogged.
“This school gat about 300 children and is every minute deh does deh running to deh toilets and you can’t stop them”.
A walk through the classroom reveals that the floor and walls have not been mopped in a long time as there are stain marks everywhere, some caused by the spilling of food during lunch periods.
In addition some parents have complained about their children being affected by the dust whenever sweeping takes place because there is no water to sprinkle in advance.
Compounding the unavailability of water is mosquito infestation and this matter was related also to the authorities. According to Ross effective learning cannot take place in the school because of the distraction caused by the mosquitoes. She said that teachers were forced to use mosquito coils in the classroom.
Stabroek News understands that on a number of occasions students were burnt by the mosquito coils accidentally and sometimes through playful acts.
“Children started bringing their own coils and matches to the classroom and the teacher would attempt to take it from them but as I said there is always that unguarded moment,” added Ross. There were reports of children burning each other as well as their school clothes and books.
The PTA head said that the ministry through the Regional Administration had sufficient time during the closure of school for the July-August period to effectively deal with the matters.
An attempt to secure a comment from the head teacher proved futile since she said that she is not permitted to speak to the media without the permission of the Department of Education.
This newspaper learnt that a technician from the Regional Administration visited the school earlier in the week and had a look at the water situation and the toilets.
“He promised to come back this afternoon (Monday) to fix the problem but I don’t know. It’s not the first time that they are coming and looking and saying that they would return so we want you to go ahead and publish these issues – if this is the way they want things to be, this is the way we are going to do it,” said a parent who chose to remain anonymous.
The parent added that if the problem is not addressed adequately they would be taking further steps to force the hands of those in authority.