Govt working to increase safety of schools, dorms – Min Manickchand

…says CoI into Mahdia deadly fire will determine way forward

Weeks after the tragic fire that destroyed the Mahdia Secondary School’s female dormitory and claimed the lives of 20 children, the Government is working to implement several measures to improve the safety of schools and dorms across the country.
This was revealed by Education Minister Priya Manickchand on Wednesday during a contract-signing ceremony.
“Certain measures are being taken across dorms and schools right now that should make them safer, including personnel [changes],” Manickchand said.
“At the end of the day, you have human beings manning the system and so you can have a perfect system with a human being who doesn’t execute perfectly and you can still end up with all kinds of issues,” Manickchand added.
While the Minister clarified that she was not referring to any specific personnel issue, she noted that to improve facilities as such, consideration would have to be made on adjusting both infrastructure and the “human beings managing them”.
On May 21, the Mahdia Secondary School dorm was allegedly set afire by a 15-year-old aggrieved student who has since been remanded to a Juvenile Holding Centre for her part in the loss of 19 fellow female students and the five-year-old son of the dorm’s caretakers.
While Police investigations have pointed towards arson as the cause of the fire, a recently-unveiled report has indicated several flaws on the part of the Education Ministry.
On Wednesday, an article in another section of the media reported that a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) assessment of the 24 dorms existing countrywide revealed a significant lack of action by the Education Ministry, with the absence of fire protection services being one of several concerns raised.
This assessment reportedly also found management system inadequacies, behavioural issues and a lack of resources as students in the hinterland are often subjected to facilities that are overcrowded and have insufficient ventilation, sanitation facilities, and bedroom furnishings.
Minister Manickchand, however, clarified that this was actually an Education Ministry-commissioned report, facilitated by UNICEF.
“If we commissioned a report knowing fully well that we have no responsibility nor jurisdiction in local governance structure or in those facilities, then I think you can surmise two clear things: 1} that we wanted to learn what were some of the weaknesses and gaps in the various facilities that existed forever…we wanted to learn what those problems were so that we could fix them, and 2) that if I knew from the beginning that I couldn’t fix them, that I would’ve shared it with whomever it needed to go to and we are maintaining that we did,” Manickchand said,
She added that in accordance with the established governance structure, the Ministry centrally has responsibility only for Georgetown.
Meanwhile, maintenance and management of school facilities in other regions are to be overseen by local government officials and Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs).
Manickchand emphasised that the report was shared with the relevant local authorities and at a later stage, dissemination of information, how the system generally works, and implementation of policies will be assessed.
For now, she pointed out that the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Mahdia fire is the best place to properly examine the existing structures and consider how to move forward safely and sensibly.
As of now, the Ministry is already in the process of making improvements to dorms around the country.
“In the 2023 budget, there is provision for five dorms in Regions One (Barima-Waini), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), and Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) to be fixed and the procurement process for that is happening [currently],” Manickchand said.
She added that taking students out of the schools while they are being fixed is not a feasible option given the prevalence of learning losses and school dropouts in these regions that have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“To say close as we fix is a hard thing to do educationally, because we will lose students…,” Manickchand said.
“You take children out of schools, especially in those communities – communities that have homes far from each other and far from the centre – getting them back in the school is a really hard thing,” Manickchand said.

GFS inspections
Meanwhile, the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) has embarked on a comprehensive inspection campaign targeting school dormitories and hostels countrywide.
To date, inspections were conducted at locations including the University of Guyana, President’s College, Dennis Irvine Hall of Residence, as well as the dormitories at Mahaicony, Paramakatoi, Anna Regina, Aurora, Charity, Three Miles, and Bartica Secondary School as well as the Essequibo Technical Institute.
The Supenaam, Suddie, Charity and Anna Regina hostels were also examined. (Pooja Rambaran)