The burning of our schools must stop

Dear Editor,

In a well-known song the lyrics asks: “and where will it stop … nobody knows?”  Is it that arson by any other name is still arson?  One may say that: “What is?” may be of great concern.  However, what is to follow after “What is?” may be of a “life or death” predicament.  Displacement is still displacement, whether by tractor, or by fire!

The latest fiery assault has been on Christ Church Secondary School.  Like St. George’s and the Multinational Secondary School, blame has been pointed to faults related to the electrical section of the structure.  Do the Education Authorities feel that by such blame they would be able to exempt themselves from responsibility? Are they doing the Pontius Pilate “hand washing act” as an excuse?

We the people are demanding an enquiry to the frequency, and casual manner in which institutions housing the children of poor urban families are made non-functional, for the purposes of education.  These are the children, who mostly need stable environments for the promoting of their learning needs,

Christ Church School is a learning institution that had to withstand a “double” assault before it finally succumbed to its fiery fate.  Queen’s College (QC) is an education institution.  It is a wooden building.  There are extensive up-grade being carried out on QC’s campus.  Are we to expect at any time: more sooner than later that, “Queen’s College burning” will be another Facebook reported incident?

No! In the future such anti-social happenings can be avoided.  All it takes is that the Government has the will to take the matter of the burning of school into its own hands. There should be a government measure passed to appoint a commission to look with haste, into the state of safety of school buildings.  Every school building must be inspected for safety of staff, pupils (students) and building (premises.)

Every school building must without delay, be professionally inspected and certificates issued and be displayed in a conspicuous place.  The work for upgrading the safety of school buildings must not be outsourced, but must be the responsibility of civil servant personals, and that heavy penalties must be meted out against those whose work fails the “quality check.”

It was the Elder Eusi Kwayana who said: “This confounded nonsense must stop.”  In respect to the burning of our buildings that exist for the transmission of education to “especially the poor children of this “One Guyana,” the sound of Elder Kwayana is deafening.  The burning “must stop.”

Rev. Dr. Rudi R. Guyan