SEVERAL parents of children who attend the Rama Krishna Primary School picketed the head teachers and staff over the deplorable condition of the Middleton Street, Campbellville institution.

The parents are protesting a number of grievances, which they say are all connected to poor management by the head teacher.

The parents are calling for the relevant authorities to take immediate action, or they will escalate their protest. One parent, David Thornhill, told the Guyana Chronicle that on several occasions his child was forced to wait for an extended period before entering the classroom and upon entering, the room was smelly. “Couple mornings when I bring her to school, the door is closed most of the times…till after 9 or 9:30am the door opens. I don’t think it’s fair that these children should sit down outside waiting,” Thornhill commented.

Speaking about the condition of the room, he went on to state: “They have some kind of stuff going on inside the class like…somebody go in the classroom and throwing stuff inside, like some kind of voodoo stuff, oil and feathers and powders and stuff.” Thornhill said this has occurred on more than one occasion and added: “The headmistress would have the keys and nobody don’t know how the stuff taking place…I just wish if somebody in authority could just deal with this matter because I’m a Muslim and I don’t really appreciate those kind of things.”

Corroborating his account was Alexis Lespoir, whose child is presently in Grade Two at the institution. “Every morning he comes to school, the desk and bench full of oil and fire extinguisher spray up all over the classroom,” Lespoir,” said questioning: “Who is doing these things?”

“The HM needs to be removed from the school because it’s a lot of injustice to us parents and students, because the HM only gives good things to those who she favours,” said another parent, Marcia Velloza, who raised a different issue.
Velloza continued: “This picketing here, if nothing is being done, some of us, our children might be victimised because the HM, that’s what she does. As long as you’re against her, she victimises your children.”

The parent went on to allege that she was asked to leave the school’s compound during a market sale which she openly did not support on the account of being attired in a short pants, much like several other parents who were not asked to leave. “I did not support the market sale, because there wasn’t a PTA body and at the end of each fund-raising activity, you still have to pay for exam papers. So I said I prefer to pay for the exam paper instead of supporting a market sale,” the woman related.

Expounding on the school’s absence of a Parent-Teacher Association, (PTA), City Council member Khame Sharma told the media that he was fed up with the occurrences at the school. “The concerned teachers and parents met together and decided that they must protest this…I was a PTA representative, formerly, and I know what happens in this school,” Sharma said, adding: “There’s no effective teachers representation on the PTA, otherwise we would not have been out here. There is no proper school management. The HM is the authority…and nobody touches her.”

In addition, he called for Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, to be more active in the concerns of her city. When the Guyana Chronicle attempted to solicit a response from the head teacher, she refused, suggesting that we contact the Ministry of Education. Chief Education Officer, Marcel Hutson, could not be reached for a comment.