GINA | GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AGENCY

Repairs and maintenance to schools is a continuous process

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education Ganga Persaud says he is aware of concerns regarding maintenance programmes for schools and construction of school buildings.

Mr. Persaud thinks however, that some of these statements are unjustified. and this may be because people are unaware of the accomplishments of the Ministry and its programmes.

The Permanent Secretary said that maintenance and repair works are on-going at various levels.“We have a very active maintenance programme and our programme seeks not only to deal with buildings, but with infrastructure in general,” said Persaud.

These programmes are identified by the Regional Education Departments and are forwarded to the Central Ministry. There are ten Departments of Education countrywide that continually look into the needs of schools in their areas. These Regional Departments work in collaboration with schools.

School administrations make contacts with the relative Departments of Education and Regional Education Officers. Issues are then factored into other requests and are prioritized for repairs and maintenance.
The annual allocations for repairs and maintenance to schools are then embodied in the national budget. Recommendations by the School Administration and Regional Education Departments are the prime basis for allocations.

Persaud thinks that over the past few years there have been significant changes in the schools infrastructure. Leaking roofs, dilapidated buildings and inhabitable school compounds are “things of the past” the Permanent Secretary said.
He further stated that deterioration in some schools could not have been addressed all at the same time. There are 1200 schools to be maintained by the Ministry and “this is a tall order”.
Over the past years, 800 of 1200 schools were built or rehabilitated. “We continue to do what can be done with available resources, but there is need for Guyanese to focus on their responsibility to maintain public property,” he added.

He encouraged persons especially parents, teachers and students to care for school buildings and other physical assets. He also implored persons to closely examine the efforts by the Ministry of Education at varying levels to maintain schools and other infrastructure.

Mr. Persaud is of the opinion that any position taken to dismiss the vigorous efforts by the Ministry to improve school environments is unfair. He said there are a number of interventions to uplift the present environment where students and teachers work.

The Ministry of Education, along with the Government Information Agency (GINA) will over the next couple of weeks highlight completed projects, those in progress and projections for the New Year. Rehabilitation works were recently completed at the Stella Maris Primary School, the St. Sidwell’s Primary School and the St. Barnabas School in Georgetown. The $21M Utivlugt Primary School was also completed.

The Ministry anticipates that the Winfer Gardens Primary will be completed by this month end and Bygeval Secondary School by this year end. There are a number of rehabilitation and maintenance works for schools countrywide under the Secondary Schools Reform Project (SSRP), the Social Impact Amelioration Programme (SIMAP), the Guyana Education Access Programme and the Basic Education Access Management Support (BEAMS) programme.
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