Request made to have children placed in school – Minister

A request has been made to have seven children who were recently repatriated from hurricane-hit islands to be placed in the local education system in Guyana.
This is according to Citizenship Minister Winston Felix, when providing an update on the repatriation process. The same has not been requested for the remaining children who came with their families on their own.
Nevertheless, Felix said he has since forwarded those requests so that arrangements could be made to start the process of getting them back into school as soon as possible.
Asked whether any request for housing was made by the returning adults who came on various flights, the Minister said, “I don’t know of any person who came wanting housing.”
He continued, “All some of them wanted to do is get home. Some people I know are with relatives. How long that will last I don’t know, but I am unaware of any request for housing.”
Questioned further if the Government would provide any training opportunities to assist these returning Guyanese to assist them with reintegrating into the local workface, he deflected the question.

“This is not a process of bringing back total strangers who don’t know their way around. Many people have been in contact with their relatives all the time,” he opined.
Local commercial airlines have been collaborating with Government and the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) to evacuate Guyanese nationals, who are stranded in hurricane-stricken territories of Tortola, St Maarten, Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) had reported that the total number of Guyanese returning home has now climbed to 44, with the last batch of 16 persons, comprising mainly women and children, arriving from St Maarten on Wednesday, October 11.
At the commencement of this rescue initiative, some 43 Guyanese living on the island had indicated their interest to return home, but following news of successful returns, that total quickly increased to 116. As such, a number of other flights are slated to evacuate Guyanese from the devastated island.
CDC Preparedness and Response Manager, Major Sean Welcome had said that the CDC had also utilised the services of the airlines to take in non-perishable food items.
Guyana’s efforts to aid these affected territories began on September 17, when Minister Felix led a Needs Assessment team to the aforementioned islands to meet with affected Guyanese nationals.
Eleven containers of food supplies have since been deployed to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA). Containers and other supplies are sent to CDEMA and then deployed to territories where aid is needed most.