Towards incident free staging…
COORDINATOR of the Georgetown Education District Mashramani Competitions and Senior Schools Welfare Officer Mrs. Carol Melville has said increased emphasis is being placed on staging incident free contests. She recalled that last year on the second day of the competitions, chaos reigned at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, with vandals disrupting the artistic displays after forcing their way into the auditorium by damaging the building.
Eventually, they, as well as the other schoolchildren, were evicted from the venue and the performances ended with only the participants and judges present.
Against that background, Melville reiterated that the focus this year is on the successful staging and several changes have been made, including the move to the National Cultural Centre, from yesterday.
She announced that only ticketed entry will be permitted and tickets have been made available to schools in advance.
Melville said every school received five tickets each for adults to attend at a cost of $200 while the children’s admission fee is $100.
“It is a children’s activity, so we are limiting how much we open it to the public. The School Welfare Officers, who will be there to assist in maintaining order, would be able to cope with the school children. With the larger public, it may be a problem,” she said.
Melville said the schoolchildren were advised to wear uniforms and not carry bags.
“Each measure is for a particular reason. In school uniforms they can be easily identified. Without the bags, they will not be able to take snacks and other eatables into the Cultural Centre,” she said.
She said, in the quest to have an orderly situation, the nursery and primary level competitions will be held in the morning, separate from the secondary, which will take place in the afternoon.
Melville said the ratio for teacher and student attendance varies at different levels. For nursery it is one to ten and primary and secondary one to 20 or 30, if the group is that large.
Relative to provisions for the children, she said there will be a liquid bar selling juices and water, but no eatables, only catering for thirsty persons.
Melville said support will be expected from the Red Cross Society and law enforcement officers.
Ms. Collette Horatio and Mr. Travis King will be acting as chairpersons for the activities, said Melville, who revealed that the steps taken were proposed by a special committee of seven individuals, functioning under the theme ‘Transparency and Integrity’.
The committee members were Melville, Ms. Lorraine Barker-King and Ms. Lavern George from the Allied Arts Unit, and Ms. Mary Luke, Ms. Jennifer Chapman, Mr. Wilfred Success and Mr. Seeram Bhiro from the Georgetown Department of Education.
According to Melville, each has a specific responsibility and regular meetings have seen a smooth flow of action to date.