Region One Chairman Brentnol Ashley has registered his concerns over the fact that some schools in the region would not be ready to accommodate students when the new school year begins on Monday.
Ashley yesterday told Stabroek News that several schools are currently still being rehabilitated and because the contracts for the rehabilitation works were awarded late, the contractors are not in a position to complete their work in time for the reopening of the schools on Monday.
Some of the schools that are likely to be affected are the Port Kaituma Primary and Secondary schools, North West Secondary, Santa Rosa Secondary, Hosororo Hill Primary and others.
Ashley added further that the schools that are affected accommodate close to 1,000 students and the disruption of classes will negatively affect them.
“My concern is that the students of these schools will be severely affected when school opens on Monday. Materials for rehabilitation work for some schools are now being mobilised while construction works are being conducted on some schools,” Ashley said.
He believes that the regional tender board administration should take the blame for the delay in works since they did not treat the works with urgency.
“The tendering process was long and started very late. School closed since in July. If the regional tender administration had put out the invitation for bids early, this issue now could have been avoided. The Regional Executive Officer [Randolph Storm] seems to be dragging his foot on works for the region,” the Regional Chairman added.
He stressed further that the village councils and parents are now being told that they are required to make alternative arrangements to accommodate the students during the construction period.
Ashley said when he contacted the Regional Education Officer of the region, he was told that they are in the process of looking at areas to house students. He said that the official also indicated that the tender administration is to be blamed for the delay in the commencement of remedial works. The regional tender administration is the body responsible for awarding contracts to bidders for projects in the region.
“The teachers and students would be forced to be accommodated in an uncomfortable environment and would have to moblise all their resources to their temporary classrooms. Also, we have to look at those schools that do not have alternative arrangements in place and would have to use the school while construction works are ongoing. We have to be concerned for the safety of the children and teachers,” he lamented.
According to Ashley, his council has not received any updates from Storm on the progress of the works being done at the schools. Stabroek News last night reached to Storm via phone for a comment on the situation but calls to his phone went unanswered.
Repeated efforts to contact the Regional Education Officer were unsuccessful.
