Students at the Zeeburg Secondary School, in Region Three, currently access water by leaning into a reservoir with a bucket attached to a rope.
A visit yesterday to the school, which is slated for some $200 million in renovations and expansion, confirmed the state of neglect of the institution.
Raju Raja, in a letter published in Friday’s edition of the Stabroek News, noted that he had previously highlighted the problems at the school, including “poor washroom facilities, no running water and a collapsing building,” but said the concerns fell on deaf ears. “It is now a new school year in which the Ministry of Education proudly announced thatall schools are in order for the new school year. I guess someone forgot to inspect Zeeburg Secondary, since there is no running water, no drinking water, no furniture for teachers, no textbooks and the toilets have no water to flush; students are forced to lean into a reservoir to pull water out with a bucket attached with a rope,” Raja wrote. “One thing is for sure, Zeeburg School is an accident waiting to happen,” Raja later added.
Though the head teacher of the school refused to allow Stabroek News to tour the facility to verify claims made by the concerned citizen yesterday, some students confirmed the state of the school, which some said had been the situation for years. This was supported by the obvious general rundown appearance that could be seen from outside, including blanched structures, broken panels and missing boards.
Students said that for the school has had poor washroom facilities, no running water and a collapsing building. They confirmed that there is no running water and neither is there any drinking water. But they said furniture for teachers is adequate and new textbooks were recently received.
The students also said that the toilets which had no water to flush have since been upgraded just last week. However, they said that they obtain water by leaning into a reservoir to pull water out with a bucket attached to a rope. Asked if the condition of the school affected their performance, they replied in the negative.
Cabinet Secretary Roger Luncheon announced on Thursday that renovation of the school is, once again, set to begin in two weeks, after a review of the evaluation process of the contract. Luncheon explained that the project was not granted the no objection when it was first taken to Cabinet in July and that it was because the contract evaluation committee was not properly constituted.
Stabroek News understands that the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board re-evaluated the contract using correct protocols and the initial contractor was not changed.
