Backed by the Parent Teacher’s Association (PTA), several dozen residents of Port Kaituma yesterday morning protested the “deplorable” conditions the community primary school and surrounding roads.
Reports are that yesterday morning, several parents took their children to school and later formed a group and called on the school’s administration to address the unsatisfactory state of the six toilets
in the school compound as well as thick vegetation surrounding the school.
An official at the sub-regional administration office told this newspaper that there were “issues” at the school which were being addressed. The official, who asked not to be named, stated that the regional administration was working to rectify the sanitary issues at the school.
According to Onika Henry, she and other parents in the community had been calling on the school’s administration to clean the school’s compound of thick overgrowth, while some parents lamented the “unsafe” and “deplorable” state of the toilets. She explained that there are six “pit-latrines outside the school in the yard but they all have deteriorating boards and they are old… at any point the children could fall in there.”
Henry said that the school’s compound has thick grass covering parts of the fence and “it’s just an unsatisfactory place to have children go to school.”
Another parent told this newspaper that some time after 8:30 am yesterday, the parents formed a group and visited the school’s administration and listed their concerns. He said that an hour later the parents, who received the support of the PTA, boarded up the toilets and locked the gate. Classes resumed at the school during the afternoon yesterday, a parent said, and she added that the school’s administration and regional officials were working to address the concerns of the community.
Parents also visited the office of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and informed officials there that the roads in the vicinity of the school, at Fitzburg, Port Kaituma, needed to be fixed, since they were filled with thick slush and were impassable.
“About 300 persons went to the NDC and we told Mr Flatts [NDC Chairman] that the road needed to be fixed,” Henry explained.
“We told him that the road should be graded with a bulldozer and that they should try to throw stones on it and he (NDC Chairman) said that he will follow our advice,” she added. She said that the NDC is responsible for the maintenance of small roads in the area and, according to her, the roads leading to the school and others were recently repaired.
When contacted, Chairman of the NDC Burchel Flatts told Stabroek News that during the course of last year, the council had submitted its proposal to central government for its work programme, including plans for the implementation of a disposal system.
He noted, however, that the NDC was informed that the $3 million special grant usually awarded to the council should be utilized to fix the internal roads in the community. The regional administration is responsible for the maintenance of the main roads in the area.
Flatts stated that the grant was passed in November last year and the contractor started works on three streets in the community. He said that the aim was to have the roads completed for the holiday season but persistent rainfall hampered works.
“The type of material, the red loam, lateritic material would loosen so the contractor was instructed to hold off works,” he said.
Further, Flats noted that the residents complained about the state of the roads but added that “because they seldom come to our meetings, we did not expect them to do what they did [protest action] this morning.”
He said however, that the NDC is open to all suggestions and after meeting with three persons who led the protest, it informed the regional administration of its plans to bulldoze sections of the identified roadways.
Works on the roads started some time after lunch yesterday and Flatts noted that some four to five “bad spots,” the longest measuring close to 100 feet, were identified for renovation.
Residents had in the past criticized the regional authorities over the maintenance of the roads in the area, with most persons noting that the completed works were substandard.
