Repairs have started at the Philadelphia Primary School after parents last week protested the building’s poor condition, but they remain worried about the safety of their children.
Resurfacing of the bottom flat of the school building began on Thursday, parents told this newspaper. But they are nevertheless calling for the students to be relocated.
Parents began to protest the conditions of the school, including the crumbling foundation pillars and the deplorable sanitary facility that the children were forced to use. The protest was triggered by mysterious piles of sand that appeared from underneath the floor on a daily basis.
Yesterday, as contracted workers hammered away at the concrete in the bottom flat, classes were ongoing upstairs. Parents were not pleased that their children had to work under such conditions and they were further enraged since a proper timeline for repairs could not be given. “What I saying is find somewhere and move these children out from this school and put dem children where safety deh,” said Angenie Parris, who has a child attending the school.
According to Parris, the Regional Education Officer told them last week that the resurfacing will take no more than two weeks. However, Parris said the contractor told them that the job will take up to two months to be completed. “Two weeks and now they saying two months. We want to know what happening,” Natasha Mohamed another parent said. The woman revealed that she is not sending her daughter to school because she fears for her health.
“We happy if dey get the children out de building until dey finish the repair. We ain‘t happy with what going on now,” Parris reiterated, to nods of approval from the other parents, who took this reporter around the school pointing to the cracked pillars holding up the building and holes in the wall.
President Bharrat Jagdeo said at a press conference yesterday that protest by parents “sometimes is justified.” He added, “It’s largely neglect, neglect by many agencies. When I go across the country, I see this. Sometimes we go and they have money [to fix the problem] but they don’t pay attention.
“Every speech I make I talk about accountability and some people in the sector [are] simply not accountable. So it’s a sad thing that the kids have to do this.”
Another parent said she would welcome the president’s intervention. “I think he is the best person to come deal with this situation because I think he coming and see the condition of this place and small children gah come…” then something positive will be done.
As for the sanitary conditions, the parents pointed out that a new sanitary block constructed two years ago remains locked up. It was only last week following protest action that a plumber went to address the problem.
Parents are calling for the school to be rebuilt instead of repaired. They pointed out that the school has undergone repairs countless time but it is just a waste of money. “They tell we, we can’t get a new school for this year; which in, we agree that we can’t get a new school for this year because they say that the budget done pass. What I woulda prefer is that they work for one [and] that we get it next year because repairing and repairing on a old building is a waste of time and it is a waste of money when they could invest it pun a new building fuh us,” a parent said.
Parents have been calling for a new school for eight years now. They showed this newspaper two new locations where they would prefer the new school to be built, since the current school is located in a churchyard.
One of the locations is where a Magistrates’ Court once stood while the other is opposite the secondary school in the community a corner away.
A source close to the school pointed out that teachers too are being affected. Teachers, the source said, are also “fearful” about the conditions they have to work under. The school’s administration, the source pointed out, wrote to the Regional Education authority, who directed that all the children be housed in the upper flat of the school. This led to overcrowding. By Monday, double sessions will be introduced at the school, the source said.
The source also expressed the teachers’ concerns that children are being kept away from classes with exams are due in the near future.
Three hundred and twenty-seven students attend the Philadelphia Primary School and 123 of them are housed in the bottom flat, which is divided into six classes.
Parents vow to continue their protest action until they get satisfactory results. “The address of the school is historical. It was built in Philadelphia and placed in Vergenoegen… It has produced good products and the school is still producing products… If they want to renew not refurbish the building we are satisfied… We can still recognise our history that is most important,” Lois Levans, a concerned parent stated.
