EDUCATION Minister Priya Manickchand, following a visit to three Region 3 schools yesterday, said school managers and head teachers must be cognizant of the buildings’ readiness prior to their opening after an end of term, and must report unpreparedness to the Regional Education Departments and Central Ministry, so that the necessaryactions can be taken, including notifying parents/students of delayed opening or interventions to ensure their surroundings are suitable for the delivery of education.
Along with a team of ministry and regional officials, the minister visited the Nismes Primary School, West Bank Demerara, and the Uitvlugt Primary and Leonora Secondary schools, West Coast Demerara. Articles of these schools’ unpreparedness at the start of the school term were highlighted in two dailies.
Minister Manickchand emphasised that the state of the schools should not have attracted her attention, for there are systems in place to address the issues.
With regard to Nismes Primary, Minister Manickchand stated that she was a bit perturbed , contrary to what she was told, the pond in the school’s compound has not been filled. She added that it is clear that the school was not visited prior to its re-opening.
“This is unacceptable… we have decided that persons who are put in positions of management and supervision have to honour the terms of their employment, and do these things before school reopens,” Minister Manickchand emphasised.
She reiterated that while the parents’ concerns are now being resolved, they should have been addressed a week prior to the start of the school term.
Classes will now recommence from Monday at the Uitvlugt Primary, and parents are urged to send their children out. Notably, efforts will be in place to ensure that any class time lost during the first week of school will be recovered during the coming months.
Minister Manickchand explained that the anticipation is that such an incident would not have to be addressed again, since measures will be put in place to make sure that when project instructions are issued, that they are executed and monitored to ensure completion.
Contractors
While at the $293.5M Leonora Secondary that was opened in November, Minister Manickchand stated that the work on the school will be completed by this weekend and explained that it was incomplete because the contractor was awaiting the arrival of eight specially ordered sinks from overseas for the science labs. With the arrival and installation of these, the remaining work will be complete.
Minister Manickchand noted that while the work was incomplete, school has been in session, and this is evident with attendance by both teachers and students. Additionally, since school reopened, the school has had a Parent Teachers’ Association meeting, engaging parents of Fifth Form students who will be sitting the CSEC exams this year.
With regard to the timely completion of works done on education institutions, Minister Manickchand disclosed that in December, the ministry’s officials met with the contractors, hired through the tender process, who are currently working on schools and dorms around the country.
She stressed that at that meeting, it was made clear that they abide by the contractual terms, especially as it relates to the completion and delivery of quality work; and if they fail to honour their agreement, then the Ministry will not hesitate to implement the contractual terms to penalise them.
Source: http://guyanachronicle.com/2012/01/07/schools-must-be-visited-prior-to-re-opening-education-minister