The fact that some students entering the secondary level in Region Ten are subjected to various forms of violence coupled with reports that they are not properly supervised have been reason enough to force members of the Parent/Teacher Association (PTA) of the Ituni Primary School into picketing mode.
The PTA members were so riled-up with concern that they opted to journey to the city yesterday to bring their concern to Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand. Unfortunately for them, by the time they arrived in the city the Minister had already left her Brickdam, Georgetown office to participate in the continuance of the 2012 Budget Debate at Parliament buildings.
This, however, did not stop the members armed with placards from engaging in peaceful picketing exercise on the lawns of the Ministry.
Among them was Pastor Eon McDonald, who revealed that one of his children was among the pupils who participated in the recent sitting of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).
Some 25 students registered to participate in the examination. All of them will have to complete their secondary education miles away from their parents’ care and direct attention, a situation which the members of the PTA have described as nothing less than bothersome.
According to the vocal pastor, “We have taken several complaints to the Education Department in Region Ten…The Ministry sent representatives to meet with us but they are saying that we are not qualified to have a secondary department.”
McDonald said that members of the PTA are continuously lobbying for Ituni students to benefit from a secondary school closer to home. However, the officials, according to him, are often quick to contend that there are not enough teachers to facilitate such a move.
Treasurer of the PTA, Rena Smith, said that Education officials have insisted that no move to introduce a secondary facility would be possible until the district is able to produce at least 200 students over three consecutive years.
She recalled that in years past the primary school was furnished with a Secondary Department (Primary Tops) which catered to pupils leaving the primary level. However, this facility had been discontinued by the Ministry of Education, Smith said.
But according to the protesters, “We need a Secondary Department and there is already an area to facilitate this…They could use the downstairs of the current primary school and we would like a positive response on this. They are trying to tell us that we have to wait until they go to parliament and that they have to lobby for this.”
At the moment the nearest secondary school to Ituni is located some 26 miles away at Kwakwani. Other schools are further away still, in Linden. And according to Smith there are reports that Ituni students are not treated very well at the distant school dormitories. She said that at least one student was the subject of a physical assault which left her with a slashed face while another 15-year-old student became pregnant.
“The idea is to have our children close so that they can feel safe and also so that we can monitor them…” Smith said.
A recent meeting with education officials in the district ended with suggestions being made for the provision of transportation to bring children to and from the distant schools and another for two parents to be designated to work in the dorms of the secondary schools so that they could supervise them while away from home.
However, it is the concern of Pastor MacDonald that Ituni is being neglected since according to him “we understand that another school district which did not reach the criteria that they are giving to us, got a secondary department…So what happened to Ituni?”
He said that “for very long nobody has been coming to find out what is going on at our end so we are stepping out to highlight our problem.”
He added that the problems at Ituni extend to the water situation which he believes is capable of transmitting “all sorts of diseases.”
“It has been decades we have been getting brown water through the tap. We have got wrigglers in our water and that is what we have to consume…this is the poor service we are getting.”
In addition to attracting the attention of officers from the nearby Brickdam Police station yesterday, the protesters were also acknowledged by persons within the Education Ministry.
In fact President of the PTA, Ivor Crossman, was invited into the Ministry by an official to share the concerns of the PTA.
According to the protesters they are prepared to continue protesting if no acceptable action is taken to address their plight.
Source: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2012/04/14/ituni-pta-pickets-education-ministry-for-secondary-department/