WHEN schools reopen on September 5, the 421 students who were displaced as a result of the fire at the St. George’s High School will be attending new schools.

This is according to the Ministry of Education’s Public Relations Officer Murtland Haley, who told the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday that schools were assigned after parents visited the Lot 68 Brickdam office.

On July 20, a fire of unknown origin swept through the upper flat of the school which is located near the historic St. George’s Cathedral.

Haley told this publication that ministry officials collected information, including the place of residence of the child and the school of choice from each parent.

While noting that the preferred school was a just suggestion that the ministry took into consideration, he said that students and heads of the respective schools will soon be invited to a meeting.

A trainee teacher who was initially placed at the St. George’s High told the Guyana Chronicle that she opted for Christ Church Secondary after they were asked to select a school where they
would feel most comfortable teaching.

She added that the fire was a “bit shocking.”

Meanwhile, a student stated that she was shocked about the situation and didn’t expect it to happen. She said that she is very sad as she was looking forward to her final year at the school.

Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Guyana and Suriname, the Right Reverend Charles Davidson, who spoke on behalf of the church which owns the land that the school is on, told the Guyana Chronicle that the ministry has not contacted him about its plans to rebuild.

The Guyana Fire Service is still conducting investigations.

(Story by Fayon Williams, Onessa Brotherson, Steve Sookraj)