Great Falls residents accuse Govt of neglect

– high rate of school dropouts due to lack of
access to secondary education

Residents of Great Falls, upper Demerara River (Region 10), are accusing the Government of neglecting the education system in their village.
The community has a population of about 300 but there are no facilities for children to complete their secondary education as the secondary schools in closest proximity to the area are in Linden.
Residents of Great Falls, Mabura Road and Number 58 Village said they had come together with the idea of building a school which would have served those communities but when they approached Government for assistance, their idea was shut down since the Government allegedly refused to provide teachers.
Residents said due to their interest for their children to access secondary education, they made yet another proposal to the Administration and submitted a list of names of potential teachers from those villages that could have been trained to teach but they are yet to receive a response.
A resident of Great Falls, who asked to remain anonymous, related that he and other residents have exhausted all avenues in seeking proper education for their children.
“We have tried everything. First, they had no school. Then we built a school, self-help with no assistance from Government. Then we asked for the teachers, they then responded by saying that they don’t have accommodation for the teachers. We didn’t give up there. We submitted a names of high school graduates that would have attended secondary school elsewhere and attained subjects at CSEC and returned to the village. We asked the Government to train these persons in even if its four or five basic subject areas just so that our children can have an education accessible but to date, they haven’t even responded,” he said.
The resident stated that the issue of lack of access to education is brought up by residents at every village meeting with officials from Government Ministries and other agencies to no avail.
He added that recently they sought the intervention of Indigenous Peoples Affairs Minister, Sydney Allicock but there were more empty promises that never materialised.
“This is distressing. They have no interest in the people here. It’s just promises on more promises and nothing is being done for us. Our children should have access to complete their education. That’s a basic necessity,” he added.
He pointed out that as a result of this issue, there is a high rate of school dropouts in his village and surrounding villages as children were left with no other alternative than to leave school upon completion of their primary education.
“Right now, most of the children finish school after the primary because Linden is a far distance from here and residents have to relocate if their children are to attend schools there. It’s unreasonable and unfair,” he said.
The residents also noted that an Information and Communication Technology Hub which was built and powered by solar energy to serve the community in the area of computer training is still awaiting furnishings after five months.
The building is empty and every time inquiries are made by the residents they are told that they are waiting for the Government to supply the computers.
“This is a waste. The empty building sitting there. It was a big thing when they announced the ICT Hub for this area but months have passed and we are still waiting. They have no computers. They have no interest in the people. They are saying one thing but their actions show something totally different,” the resident argued.
The frustrated residents are calling on the relevant authorities to intervene in the situation and to put mechanisms in place so that residents can access better facilities.
Efforts to obtain a comment from Region Ten Regional Education Officer Robindra Singh on the issue were unsuccessful.
Great Falls Village is a small Indigenous community located on the bank of the Demerara River with a population of about 300 persons. The community has two nursery and primary schools, a health centre and a village office. Its main economic activities are logging, traditional hunting and fishing.