The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire found that no action was taken by the previous government regarding dorms despite this being flagged following a report in 2017 on the education sector.
According to the Mahdia CoI report, there was a grave neglect of duty bordering on recklessness by those vested with power for the care and welfare of the country’s children residing in dormitories.
The CoI report into the dorm fire, which claimed 20 lives on May 21, 2023, referenced the testimony of current Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussein on October 10, 2023 who said that in 2015, then Minister of Education Dr Rupert Roopnaraine had commissioned an inquiry into the education sector in Guyana.
The subsequent report titled ‘Commission of Inquiry into the Education Sector of Guyana Preliminary Report’ was intended to establish a baseline analysis of the state of public education in Guyana and to provide recommendations of broad strategic guidelines for the enhancement of public education. That Commission of Inquiry comprised Ed Caesar, a former Chief Education Officer; Ronald Austin (Jnr); Jennifer Dewar (who represented the religious organisations); Lance Hinds (an IT specialist); and Ramesh Persaud (a representative of the private sector). These individuals were assisted by a team of technical and administrative officials.
That commission conducted 99 consultations throughout Guyana, received 50 written submissions and tabled its Preliminary Report to the Minister of Education on 28 April 2017. The report placed high emphasis on the deplorable state of student dormitories and made recommendations that they should be addressed. It stated that attention must be paid to the level and quality of supervision in dorm facilities, the Mahdia CoI was told.
It also reported that in general, ‘House Parents’ were not trained for their tasks, had too many students to oversee and were being taken advantage of. The report also found that the issues raised were most present among secondary school students, who were facing the most challenging times of their lives and required greater care and supervision.
Against this backdrop, the Mahdia CoI on October 10, 2023 enquired from Hussein as to the efforts made to comply with the recommendations of the 2017 report.
He was quoted as saying in response: “The dorms did not become what they are in 2020. It was a long series of neglect which positioned the dorms to where they are. This neglect … made us say that look, one of the first things we are going to do in 2021 to 2025 as part of our education sector plan, is we are going to look at what the dorms are. We are going to, first of all, get a minimal set of standards of what they are and we are going to find out how far we are from those standards…”
The Mahdia CoI report stated in its findings: “Further we find that the issues highlighted in the report were to a great extent inherited by the current administration from the previous administration. It is to be pointed out that while those said issues are being addressed by the current administration, the magnitude of neglect which was inherited rendered full rectification a time-consuming exercise. Unfortunately, the tragedy struck before more could have been achieved.”
Hussein also pointed out, the Mahdia COI said, that the Caesar report on the education sector did not include an audit of dormitories in Guyana. However, the CEO also told the inquiry into the fire that an audit was conducted between 2015 and 2020 under the auspices of Roopnaraine, though it made no mention of the conditions of the dormitories.
The Mahdia CoI report then adverted to the report commissioned by the current Ministry of Education titled ‘Gender Sensitive Standards for Dormitory Schools in Guyana’ and said that based on information Hussein provided it was a direct result of the initiative of Minister of Education Priya Manickchand, who considered it critical that a survey of all dormitory facilities be conducted.
“According to the CEO in his tendered statement … it was intended that the review and consequential
recommendations from the survey of the dormitories would be included as part of the Education Sector Plan for 2021 – 2025,” the Mahdia CoI report said.
Hussein also told the Mahdia CoI that the Ministry of Education Report, based on a study funded by UNICEF, was placed in the Education Sector Plan. It aims to improve live-in dormitory facilities by reviewing and restructuring the piloted dormitory’s psycho-social programme and ensuring compliance with quality health and sanitary standards at dormitory facilities.
Fire protection
Of particular importance were the guidelines contained in the report for the necessary fire protection systems to be implemented for the prevention of fires across dormitories in Guyana. It outlined the placement of fire alarm systems, smoke detectors, and fire extinguishers and other equipment, with specifications in terms of distance and amounts when compared to the number of occupants for each dorm. The report also mandated that the fire systems once installed should be checked, tested and maintained at least once per year by the Fire Department or a qualified person appointed by the Ministry of Education.
Furthermore, the report iterated the necessity for fire drills to be interwoven into the education system. It stated that fire drills should be held three times per school term, should include all students and staff and should be based on established Ministry of Education fire drill procedures. Additionally, training in the use of fire extinguishers, fire sand buckets and evacuation procedures should be done for students and all staff at least once per school academic year.
The Mahdia CoI considered the content of the MoE/UNICEF report to be both crucial and instructive. It said that in all respects, the report provided comprehensive and often specific and detailed guidelines to improve the welfare and safety of children occupying dorm facilities in Guyana.
“We were particularly interested in the steps that ensued following the report. The Chief Education Officer informed us during his testimony that upon receipt of the report, same was put before the Cabinet sometime thereafter by the Minister of Education and immediately shared with the ministers of Local Government and Regional Development and Finance,” the Mahdia CoI stated.
“We were informed by the CEO that following submission of the report to Cabinet, immediate systems were put in place for the implementation of the recommendations captured therein. He explained that the cost for compliance with the recommendations contained in the report across all 24 dorms in this country was about $3 billion. He expressed the view that due to its submission after the budget cycle for 2022, it was very difficult for this sum to be generated immediately to cover the full cost of the renovations.”
Hussein was quoted as saying: “The budget had already passed and so there was not a $3 billion lying around that you could just pull and renovate… I think this is something which is missed. Let us say, for the sake of argument that in September 2022, we began the process of renovating all the dorms. What do I do with the occupants of the dorms? This was the professional decision which was tendered to the minister and the Government of Guyana. You cannot take out all the students from the dorms and just let them be. We felt it was a better option to gradually repair the dorms.
“That very report says that Mahdia was not one of the top priorities to be addressed. Mahdia had one issue and that is with a constant supply of electricity and water… I am advised by two sources that the report was shared with Cabinet – one, I attended several budgetary meetings. And so, from those meetings, I gathered that this document was laid to the Cabinet.
“An email was copied to me which suggested that the report was laid and copied to the Minister of Finance, as well as to the Minister of Local Government and from that, I gathered that it was laid in Cabinet.
“What I gathered from the email was that … there was an immediate decision by the Cabinet to move ahead with the correction of those things that needed to be done… I could add at this point, up to today, $882 million has been expended on dorms from 2022 to current. By the end of the year, we expect to touch $1 billion, because we are still awaiting several awards for these dorms…”
According to the Mahdia CoI report, Manickchand had elevated to a place of priority the dormitory facilities which were in a woeful state of neglect across Guyana.
“We find therefore that the process to comply with the recommendations emanating from the report commenced in 2022 to ensure that the dorms were rehabilitated to a standard to preserve the care, safety and welfare of students residing in dorms across Guyana,” the Mahdia CoI report said.
“We accept that the process is a continuous one and that there is a strong commitment by the Government of Guyana to comply with the recommendations of the MoE/UNICEF report as far as practicably possible”, the Mahdia CoI report said.
