Minister slams deplorable state of Mon Repos Primary
Minister of Education, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine (second left) and Region 4 officials during Monday’s visit with teachers and pupils at Mon Repos Primary
Minister of Education, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine (second left) and Region 4 officials during Monday’s visit with teachers and pupils at Mon Repos Primary

“DISGRACEFUL!” was how Education Minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine described the deplorable state in which he found the Mon Repos Primary School following a visit there on Monday.
“The school is in a disgraceful state; from the ground to the school’s structure needs to be rehabilitated,” he later told the media.

Mon Repos Primary School (Photos by Samuel Maughn)

The minister was accompanied on a tour of the lower East Coast Demerara school by other officials of the Ministry of Education and members of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), and they all agreed that it could do with some immediate attention in spite of the many attempts made at rehabilitation by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA).
According to teachers there, not only does the school’s playground need to be landfilled, but the school itself needs a good overhaul, particularly where electrical works and plumbing are concerned.

As the minister observed: “It’s like a pothole in a road; if we neglect it, it gets bigger and much harder to deal with. And this here is what we are seeing.”
Both the Regional Education Officer (REDO) of Region Four, Ms Tiffany Hardy, and the Chief Education Officer (CEO), Ms Marcel Hudson concurred with the minister, but pointed out that the regional budget is too small to undertake such an onerou task; that it will have to be increased, so that the RDC can afford to get the job done.
But Minister Roopnaraine was looking at the bigger picture. Problems such as these, he said, are not unique to Region Four alone, and as such he will be conducting a series of visits to schools all across the country, from Crabwood Creek in Berbice to Charity, on the Essequibo Coast.

“I am very unhappy that the ministry keeps sending back money to the treasury when there is much work to be done,” he said, adding that moves will be afoot to ensure that “schools are worthy of the children”, rather than the other way around.
It was confirmed that the Ministry of Education will be looking to solicit more help from the Ministry of Communities so that they can step up the pace of improving schools around the country.

Hudson said that although these steps will be taken, there is still need for improved monitoring and supervision in order to improve the “decentralised system”.
There is also need for parents to be more “vibrant and active” in the school’s PTA, so as to ensure that the minor inefficiencies are dealt with.

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