By Stabroek News

Copyright stabroeknews

Continuing to highlight deplorable conditions that children are enduring in the school system across the country, the opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party has most recently highlighted the state of the Wailang Community School in Region Eight (Potaro/Siparuni), Karisparu Primary, also in Region Eight, and the Wallaba Primary in Region One (Barima/Waini).

Efforts by the Sunday Stabroek over the past two days to reach out to Minister of Education Sonia Parag and other education officers for comment on the claims and issues were unsuccessful.

While Wailang Primary School is not officially listed under the Ministry of Education, WIN, via the Team Mohamed’s Facebook page, said that the community school provides a source of learning for 55 pupils who are being “shortchanged.” There is no appointed teacher at the school, but that of a Community Support Officer (CSO) who volunteered to take responsibility for teaching nine classes simultaneously, WIN said.

“The school is excluded from the school feeding programme because it is not formally recognised, leaving the students – many of whom are from underprivileged backgrounds – to go hungry some days. There is also a visible disparity in the children wearing different uniforms depending on what is available or handed down to them,” WIN continued.

The facility lacks proper furniture, running water, faulty solar panels, among other necessary amenities. There is also no transportation assistance available, which forces students to walk for miles to attend school, WIN noted. “The children of Wailang are not asking for special treatment; rather, they want equal access to education.”

The party described the situation at Karisparu Primary as “inhumane.” “There is no electricity, so they have no fans. There are no book racks, poor sanitary facilities, and no teachers’ desks or chairs. The teachers took chairs from an old school, and those are old and dirty. A single piece of blackboard serves multiple classes, the HM’s office is unfurnished, and teachers live in deplorable quarters. Those attending CPCE rely on their phones because they have no computers.”

The teachers at Wallaba Primary School are also said to be functioning under deplorable conditions. There is no electricity at the teacher’s quarters. “Three weeks into the new school term, and the teacher’s quarters remain uninhabitable due to infestations of rats, bats, and other pests, forcing them to seek refuge with kind colleagues who offered temporary accommodation. To compound their plight, some teachers have been receiving half-salaries,” WIN shared. “Despite repeated complaints to the education authorities and promises that it will be corrected, nothing was done. They are having to deal with heavy bureaucracy, going through several chains of command and to no avail.”

In response to urgent utilities issues facing schools across the country, Parag, and Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, Deodat Indar, convened a meeting on September 25th to address these matters.

A Ministry of Education release stated that as a result of this meeting, the Ministers formed a rapid-response task force to tackle these issues.