Last week the Department of Public Information reported on the government’s policies and measures with regard to advancing education in Guyana. Under the heading ‘Rehabilitation and construction of schools’ it said that the administration had “invested huge sums to rehabilitate and construct new schools across the country, with the view of ensuring that students were comfortably accommodated when schools reopened.” Where primary schools were concerned, it made reference to those being built in Karabairu and Bamia/Amelia’s Ward, whose completion was anticipated by the end of 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Perhaps the reporters at DPI had not heard of Santa Rosa Primary School, the parents of whose pupils were out last month protesting about the condition of the school which is said to be structurally unsafe. Head of the PTA Donna Henry told this newspaper that the roof leaked and the boards were rotten, posing a danger to the children. The building, which was old, she said, was beyond repair. While following complaints about the state of the structure a section of wall had been repaired and some parts repainted, but that had not solved the problem.

One of the teachers who requested anonymity told our reporter they couldn’t use any teaching aids in their classrooms because of rainwater from the leaking roof, while they had to confine the classes to tight spaces and sometimes had to move around the room so they didn’t get wet when it rained. There can be few other schools in the land whose students have to perambulate around the classroom in order to have a lesson when the weather is uncooperative. It was reported that tents were erected in the compound, but these could only accommodate about ten children, and when it rained they became like “fish-ponds”, as Ms Henry put it. So much for ‘comfortable accommodation’.

It is not as if problems with Santa Rosa Primary are anything new. Almost exactly a year ago the parents of children attending this school were out with their placards again, protesting the state of the school which was not in a condition to facilitate face-to-face teaching. According to a teacher, there were no proper sanitation measures in place, even although the Assistant Regional Education Officer and the Regional Department of Education had been made aware of the situation. “The teachers protested for things beyond their control,” said the member of staff. These included complaints about sanitary blocks for both teachers and children, water, wash-hand basins and overflowing toilets. In the end, pupils had to be taken back home because of the insanitary conditions.

It is one of the mysteries of this nation why it is after a long recess allowing time for the edu

cational authorities to execute school repairs and the like, they never seem ready when school opens in September. Perhaps unsurprisingly one usually has to look no further for answers than this country’s special strain of bureaucratic dilly-dallying. We have a unique capacity to create impediments out of minor issues, and even where the difficulties are not so minor, they are often not addressed in a rational let alone a timely fashion. The default position is invariably to procrastinate or do nothing.

The first hurdle in this case related to the ownership of the land. The school sits on land owned by the Roman Catholic Church because it was once a church school. The authorities know this, but nevertheless in relation to the tents they seem to have omitted to contact the Church authorities for permission initially. Regional Councillor Maurice Torres told this newspaper early last month that before they could do any work they needed to get the permission of the priest, “and the priest was saying that they haven’t received any letter so far from the region seeking permission for the school to do the construction.”

In short, a verbal communication is not sufficient in these situations; a formal letter of some kind must be sent for the record. The same problem appears to have arisen in relation to repairs to the building. Some parents are of the view the building is not capable of repair, but nevertheless the Region did award a contract worth $18 million to a contractor for remedial work. Regional Chairman Brentnol Ashley when asked about the delay in the Bishop granting permission for repairs responded:

“In the past the church would have assisted but I believe what they would like is for the rightful authorities, like us of the Region and the Ministry of Education to write them formally and have formal discussions with them seeking permission. Even though the school was on this land for decades now, it suddenly starts to pose a problem,” he said. Hardly, one would have thought. Formal application would have to be made no matter how long the school had been on the land. At the point at which our reporter spoke to the Chairman earlier last month, a meeting had not been arranged.

But the contract itself turned out to be a problem in any case, because the contractor turned down the contract claiming that the money was insufficient for the renovations required. When this newspaper spoke to Councillor Torres, he said that since the contractor’s rejection of the contract, no effort had been made by the local authorities to tender for another contractor. As for the Regional Chairman, he was not exactly a fountain of knowledge on the subject. Asked if efforts had been made to award the contract to another contractor, or if the sum for the project had been increased, he replied that although he was aware of the contract he was not aware of the exact amount involved or what had happened to it. In order to find that out, he said, he would have to consult the Regional Tender Board.

That was apparently the state of play at the time the school opened: no contract that anyone outside the Regional authorities knew about, and no permission from the Bishop. It was clear the children and teachers could not be expected to function in an unsafe environment, and the solution was the introduction of a shift system. While necessary in the circumstances,

it was hardly conducive to learning, or teaching, for that matter.

There should have been absolutely no surprise, therefore, that the exasperated parents decided it was time to have their say, and subsequently appeared with their placards demonstrating peacefully outside the Santa Rosa school. This seems to have concentrated minds wonderfully at the bureaucratic level, because it did not take long for the heavyweights from Georgetown and the Region to make their appearance. A brigade of officials including Chief Education Officer 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 as well as Santa Rosa Primary School headmistress Hermina Rebeiro, District Education Officer Cliva Joseph, and Regional Vice Chairperson Annansha Peters met with the protesting parents and teachers.

PTA Secretary Duane Hetzberger told this newspaper that parents agreed the shift system was the best way forward, while the officials also were in accord with them that the building could no longer be occupied until emergency remedial work was undertaken. He said that a contractor with his team were expected to visit the site and determine the works which it would be necessary to have done. What was not clear to Stabroek News was whether this was a new contractor, or whether it was the original contractor who had rejected the contract when initially awarded, but who now had come to some accommodation. Mr Hetsberger also said that the matter of the regional authorities requiring permission from the Bishop for rehabilitation works had also been straightened out.

Several parents considered that it was time the authorities contemplated constructing a new school since apart from the state of the existing one, the population at 311 had outgrown it. This was confirmed by Chairman Ashley, who had previously told this newspaper that owing to the influx of pupils from Santa Rosa village, the Region and the Ministry were engaged in talks with the Toshao and Village Council to look for land elsewhere to erect a more modern school which could accommodate all the pupils from Santa Rosa and nearby areas.

How quickly that will happen remains to be seen, but in the meantime Mr Hetsberger said the parents hoped the contractor would be able to swiftly execute remedial works to the existing building. What is notable about this story is that there were various delays in relation to addressing the problems of the Santa Rosa Primary School, with an equivalent number of excuses. Yet once the parents with their placards came out and officials came to meet them, all the so-called impediments seemed to melt away. It appears to be that what the parents at Santa Rosa were really facing when they went out to protest was yet another instance of bureaucratic dithering.