Kwebanna Villagers last week shut the doors to their primary school building in protest over the uncomfortable environment pupils of the Region One village have had to endure while being taught, according to Toshao Troy Peters.
Plagued by overcrowding and poor ventilation, Peters said the village has been calling for an extension of the school building since 2019.
Efforts to contact Re-gional Chairman Brentnol Ashley proved futile.
Peters explained that when the call was initially made for improvements, they were given assurances by regional officials of an extension to the school. But three budgets later they are still waiting for the promises to materialise.
In the lead up to closing the school for a week, Peters said parents and teachers protested the conditions in which learning has to take place.
“The children are uncomfortable, the teachers are uncomfortable. How can you learn in an oven? It is not feasible,” Peters lamented.
As a father of two who are attending the school, Peters said he is not only speaking up and demanding better for his children but all the others from his village.
He explained that he feels a sense of responsibility as their leader to ensure they receive the best of education and benefit from development.
Due to the existing situation, he explained that four children from the school fell ill and many complain daily to their parents of being unable to concentrate and focus on what is being taught.
The school was built to accommodate 100 pupils but to date there are over 250 pupils registered in school.
“Even the teachers get frustrated because the classes are so close to each other that it gets confusing when the teachers are teaching,” he noted.
According to Peters, during the National Toshaos Conference he resubmitted a proposal for the expansion of the school but to date they are still awaiting an acknowledgement from relevant agencies.
“I want to see development here in my village. The president says they are investing in education and we are asking for development in education but we are not getting it,” Peters lamented as he registered his disappointment.
The village leader believes that some officers in the region are ignoring the request of the villages, making the government look disinterested in their affairs.
Asked if the village Council has considered implementing a rotation system to ease the burden they currently face, the Toshao responded in the negative.
He stated that the region had provided a tent to the school to accommodate some children but the village does not accept that and believes that more should be done.
“Why should we accept such mediocre treatment? These are Guyanese children they are entitled to better. They are saying our country have so much resources and as a village we want to see those resources come here. We want to hear that the school will be extended for the benefit of the children… we should not have to look at rotation system and use a tent,” the Toshao declared as he empahsised that all Guyanese children should have equal access to education.
Further, Peters said that it was disappointing to see the Chief Education Offi-cer Dr. Marcel Huston, Deputy Chief Education Officer for Amerindian and Hinterland Education Development Marti De Souza, new Regional Education Officer Elly Peterkin and her predecessor Chevion Bovell Success along with the Vice Chair of the Regional Democratic Council Annansha Peters swiftly responding to the concerns of the Santa Rosa Primary school and not extend the same treatment to Kwebanna.
“Aren’t we important as well? Why they couldn’t come to us… we closed the school for a week and nobody recongise how serious we are… we need our school to be expanded,” Peters stressed.
