Mahdia Secondary School without Head Teacher for more than six months

By Fareeza Haniff

[www.inewsguyana.com] – The main opposition – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has highlighted the embarrassing state of the health and education sectors of Region 8.

APNU Member, Rajcoomarie Bancroft told reporters during a press conference on Friday, January 31 that the Mahdia Secondary School has been without a Head Teacher for more than six months now.

According to Bancroft, the subject teachers who are forced to act in the capacity are pressed to divide their time between teaching classes and executing administrative duties.

“Throughout the region, there is a lack of trained teachers within the school. There are little subjects being offered at the secondary level; 8 at Paramakatoi and 6 at Mahdia,” Bancroft told the news conference.

She further added that text and exercise books are taken to Kato and are not distributed to satellite villages in a timely manner, since they cannot be transported in bulk using ATVs.

According to Bancroft, “A batch of computers was delivered to Mahdia for the purpose of incorporating Information Technology into the school’s curriculum. However, the school has no IT Lab and the computers remain sitting in the region’s education office.”

In relation to Sub Region One, Bancroft explained that there is no running water in the dorms at Paramakatoi and as such, children have to fetch water from a well, while the entire Mahdia settlement is also without running water.

These issues, Bancroft told reporters, were reported to the Ministry of Education and are known to the subject Minister, Priya Manickchand.

Meanwhile, in relation to the health situation, the APNU member explained that drug distribution is a major problem in Sub Region One. She noted that drugs are flown into Kato and then taken to satellite villages via ATV.

“This proves difficult as ATVs cannot transport the drugs in bulk. Because of this, drugs remain in storage at Kato, sometimes past their expiration date.”