-issues were in pipeline to be resolved
MINISTER within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Norman Whittaker, said that the protest action outside the Neighbourhood Democratic Council’s (NDC) office in Port Kaituma, Region 1, was surprising, since redress to the situation was imminent. Minister Whittaker said that a team comprising Regional Executive Officer (REO) Nigel Fisher, Assistant Regional Executive Officer Deon Seecharran and Senior Superintendent of Works Cy Rodriques had, on January 12, visited the Port Kaituma Primary and other nearby schools and carried out a conditional survey of the school buildings and surroundings.
Minister Whittaker said that with regard to the Port Kaituma Primary, the visit allowed the team to update the newly appointed Headmistress, Sharon Murray, of plans for assisting the school with its infrastructure under the region’s 2012 budget. The meeting also allowed the team to hear from the head some of the issues concerning the school.
Some of the issues discussed were overcrowding, furniture shortage, the sanitary conditions and insufficient water storage capacity, Whittaker said.
The meetings also allowed for consensus on the solution to the problems. It was decided that as soon as the region receives its full support of desk and benches for the New Year, that 40 pairs would be given to the school.
An extension to the school, an annex, was proposed, to house approximately 80 students, while it was agreed that the sanitary blocks and other main programmes will be done under the 2012 education budget.
Whittaker said that it then came as a surprise that the same headmistress who met with this team and agreed to these conditions was the following day present at a Community Teacher Association meeting where a decision was taken to protest against the same issues that were to be resolved.
Whittaker said, according to reports, some of the teachers, parents and students of the schools, took this protest action Monday and that apparently one of the parents took the decision to secure the gate to the school with a huge padlock, and that it was only later in the afternoon that the teachers were allowed to return to the school following the intervention by the REO, accompanied by the police.
He said that by the time the intervention had been made, most of the students had gone home.   
Minister Whittaker said that given that the head was granted the opportunity to ventilate her concerns at the forum with the team comprising the REO, her conduct with regard to the protest action was unprofessional. The visit by the senior officials allowed for certain commitments to be made with regard to the issues, Whittaker said, and if the head felt that these commitments were inadequate, she was provided the forum to voice her concerns.
Similarly, the behaviour of the teachers involved in the protest was irresponsible, he added, as they allowed themselves to be misled, even as the issues were being addressed.