– authorities mobilise to provide assistance

TWO teachers, living in the government quarters in Port Kaituma, Region One, were counting their losses on Saturday after thieves broke into their living quarters for the second time in a few months and ransacked their living space.

On Saturday, one of the teachers, Leon Beaton, said that he has been teaching at the Port Kaituma Secondary School for five years and Saturday’s robbery was the second one in three months.

“The thief easily ripped out my kitchen window mesh and my bedroom door, which had two locks, then went on to ransack the apartment. I am yet to determine what exactly is missing but here I am, once again in tears, left with nothing other than what I brought back with me,” Beaton wrote in a Facebook post.

He also lamented that following the first robbery when he and a female teacher lost all of their belongings, they began advocating for heightened security measures, but to no avail. During that first incident, Beaton said that he lost $450,000 in items- including his clothes, appliances and personal items.

Following the unfortunate incident, when the Sunday Chronicle reached out to the teacher, he highlighted that both the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand and Deputy Chief Education Officer (DCEO) for Amerindian and Hinterland Development, Marti DeSouza, assured him that the premises would be secured. He said they also committed to replacing what was stolen.

The General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Coretta McDonald, also reached out and committed that everything will be done to ensure that the teachers are kept safe.