The parents of pupils of the Uitvlugt Primary School are calling on the relevant authorities to have the compound and its surroundings weeded to ensure their children’s safety and the education minister has slammed the officials for the poor preparation of the institution.
When Stabroek News visited the school yesterday, the parents were cleaning and washing the school compound with disinfectant. They said that despite several letters sent and visits being made to the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and the Regional Education Office informing them about the deplorable state of the school, there has been no action by the authorities.
Efforts to have Regional Education Officer Marlyne Jones O’Donoghue comment on the situation at the institution proved futile, since Stabroek News was informed that she was “in the field” and would not return for the day.
When contacted yesterday Education Minister Priya Manickchand said it was unacceptable that regional officials had not visited the school to ensure its readiness before the start of the new term.
She said she would ensure that measures were put in place to prevent this happening again at any other school.
One parent Koreen Baird said she has two children attending the school and was afraid that something bad might happen to them. When the pupils returned for school on Tuesday they were greeted by a flooded yard and snakes hanging on the fence of the compound.
“There were snakes all over on the fence and the boys had to kill them,” she lamented. “The yard was flooded and moss was all over on the concrete.”
The school’s Parent- Teachers Association (PTA) Chairman Vanessa Kippins said they had made several requests to the regional and the NDC offices through letters and visits but they are yet to receive any word from them.
“We want permanent changes in the school not no temporary ones. We want our children to enjoy their time at school and not be fearful. So until our demands are met we will not send our children back out to school,” she said.
The parents are all calling for the thick overgrown vegetation that is a ‘snake haven’, surrounding the school’s compound, chopped down so that they can be assured of their children’s safety.
The irate parents said they had been told that the compound would be cleaned and cleared of the weeds, but they are yet to see that come to pass.
They said they were also told that a team would be dispatched to sanitize the compound since it was flooded but they had to take matters into their own hands and pool their resources to clean the compound.
Manickchand told this newspaper that she had been informed that sanitation officers would have visited the school on Wednesday and yesterday.
Kippins said some men visited and cleared a few drains and chopped some of the bushes but they left and are yet to return.
The Education Minister said she would visit Region Three schools today, including the unprepared Uitvlugt Primary and the one at Nismes where an unfilled pond remains a hazard to schoolchildren.
