Dear Editor,
While the government parliamentarians shout about the billions in the budget and skilfully avoid the question of the benefits derived by citizens relative to spending, our children suffer.

One example is the Meten-Meer-Zorg Primary School.  At that school which has a population  in excess of five hundred students, there is a serious health risk.  The sanitary block is in a deplorable condition. Toilet bowls are overflowing. Children resort to relieving themselves on the floor.  Now that the floor can no longer be used for that purpose, children are seen relieving themselves squatting on the septic tank in full public view.

For the avoidance of doubt, let me state that I visited the school today (February 17).  There I saw for myself the ugly sight of our daughters relieving themselves in the open. I took the opportunity to speak with students, teachers and parents.  They share the common fear for the school’s population.  Teachers are equally affected by this condition.  Successive attempts by the Parent Teachers’ Association to have the regional officials correct this frightening situation have clearly not been appealing to the insensitive power-wielders in Region Three.

Someone in the upper echelons of primary education administration in the region is not doing their job. It is clear that such administrative ineptitude is not without the full protection of the political directorate at Vreed-en-Hoop.  Some in the education department in the region are better politically aligned than they are professionally inclined.  The old African adage: “Whether the elephants play or fight, the grass gets trampled upon,” readily comes to mind.

I am saddened by the callous treatment meted out to our future leaders.  Let’s get a value for money audit for expenditure in education across the country from 2006 and for every year thereafter.

Yours faithfully,
Mervyn Williams, MP

Editor’s note

We are sending a copy of this letter to the Regional Education Officer, Region 3, Mrs Marlyn Jones-O’Donoghue, for any comment she might wish to make.