Trade unionists Mr. Lincoln Lewis and Ms. Coretta McDonald have expressed deep concern with the fire at the Mahdia Secondary School female dormitory that resulted in the deaths of at least 20 children and several injured. The fire, which happened last evening, completely destroyed the dorm and details are still pouring in. The Fire Service also ran out of water whilst trying to contain the blaze.
In an invited comment with Village Voice News, veteran trade unionist Lewis said his heart goes out to the families of the children and the community but also of importance is addressing the root cause of what happened and putting corrective mechanisms in place to avoid similar recurrence. According to Lewis, who is General Secretary of the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC), accidents do not just happen, they are caused. “Persons must be held accountable.”
This fire, Lewis said, is another issue that puts to test our safety systems and the competencies (physical and human resources) that exist in the management of those systems. Quite recently, he noted, there was an incident at Montgomery Mines, Linden, where a bulldozer worker, Mr. Neptrid Hercules, was covered under overburden for days. The incident occurred March 11, 2023 and the workers’ body was found four days later, a day after the dragline he was working in.
Lewis shared, the government did not do enough to find that worker then subsequently, with much fanfare, announced a commission of inquiry will be held and since then society has heard nothing. “The issue of safety and people’s lives, be it workers in the formal or informal system, seems not to be of importance to the policy makers and those vested with the authority to make things happen.”
The trade unionist- who is also General Secretary, Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU)- said he hopes it is not lost on the government that the lives of innocent children were lost in a gruesome tragedy that could have been avoided. To this end, he said, whilst he is guardedly optimistic, he hopes the government will seriously look at safety standards in the workplace, public buildings and homes, and this tragedy does not become another nine-day-story of fanfare and after the dead are buried life goes back to normal.
Guyana Teachers Union, General Secretary, Ms. McDonald told Village Voice News, she is deeply saddened by the entire incident and the government owes this society, the children and family, answers.
An emotional McDonald, a teacher by profession, said the entire situation reeks of total incompetence on the part of the education department and ministry. She queried the absence of wisdom having children in a dormitory facility, locked in, without adult supervision that could have guided them through any untoward incident.
According to McDonald, who has been in continuous contact with teachers in Mahdia, among the 20 children who died are twins and a five-year-old. She opined the wrought iron grill work was designed in a manner that made it difficult for children to escape. Who would give approval for such construction, she queried, and where were the education officials when screams of fire rang out.
Some of the children died in the blaze holding on to the grilled windows, evident of their efforts to escape the inferno. She also noted some of the children are presently sitting the CXC examinations and wondered what support Minister of Education, Ms. Priya Manickchand, would put in place to address the children’s psychosocial well-being as a result of the trauma they are experiencing.
The trade unionist, who is also President of the GTUC and a parliamentarian, advised that some of the children’s parents, given the far flung areas they live and having limited access to the internet, would not have known of the tragedy and many awoke this morning to the sad news. “I grieve for these parents.”
Money allotted to the Education and Home Affairs ministries in the 2023 Budget is sufficient to have ensured better facilities and fire service, she remarked. “Our children, teachers and parents deserve better”
Since August 2020, when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) returned to office, there have been six school fires. The Mahdia fire is the worst given the loss of lives.
