School Fires: A Scorching Indictment of PPP/C Incompetence-Forde

By Roysdale Forde S.C – In Guyana, our sacred faith in education as the bedrock of sustainable national progress is being incinerated before our eyes. Under the leadership of the PPP/C regime, a horrifying epidemic of school fires has ravaged our educational landscape over the past five years, exposing not just crumbling infrastructure but the criminal negligence, brazen corruption, and utter betrayal of our children’s futures by those in power. This is no mere string of accidents. In fact, it is a damning testament to a government that prioritises political patronage over public safety, allowing flames to devour the very institutions meant to educate and train our youths.

Here is a chronicle of catastrophic failure:

From 2021 to today, at least nine major blazes have torched our schools, each one a searing scar on the PPP/C’s record of disastrous governance. Consider this litany of devastation:

1. June 2021 – North Ruimveldt Multilateral/Secondary School in Georgetown, including its vaunted ‘smart’ classroom, reduced to ashes by a mysterious fire of unknown origin.
2. September 2021 – North West Secondary School in Mabaruma obliterated by arson, a deliberate act of destruction that screams of unchecked lawlessness.
3. July 2022 – St. George’s High School in Georgetown gutted by an electrical inferno, uprooting 421 students in a blaze of governmental ineptitude.
4. January 2023 – Christ Church Secondary School torched in a malicious arson attack, shattering the lives of over 500 students and nearly 40 educators.
5. May 2023 – The Mahdia Secondary School dormitory massacre by fire, an arson horror that snuffed out 20 innocent young lives—a bloodstained tragedy that exposes the PPP/C’s abject failure to protect vulnerable Indigenous children.
6. June 2023 – The girls’ hostel at Karasabai in Region 9 razed to the ground by arson, another cowardly assault on our girls’ education.
7. 2024 – As exposed by the Alliance For Change (AFC), a shocking 14 fire-related incidents ravaged schools between January 1 and September 18, with 13 striking public institutions—many electrical in origin, underscoring the regime’s scandalous disregard for basic maintenance.
8. March 2025 – Mae’s School in Subryanville, Georgetown, annihilated by fire, displacing over 1,000 students and staff while claiming the heroic life of Fireman Vashaun Manbodh—a needless sacrifice to PPP/C complacency.
9. August 24, 2025 – Kwakwani Secondary School in Region 10 decimated by flames mere days before the new term, a cruel blow to families already battered by economic hardship.

This relentless barrage of infernos, arson, electrical faults, and sheer neglect, is a national outrage, a blistering crisis manufactured by a regime drunk on oil wealth yet starving our schools of essential safeguards.

These fires are not just destroying buildings; they’re torching the souls of our nation. Thousands of students, parents, and teachers endure profound trauma and displacement, forced into makeshift classrooms amid fear and uncertainty.

And Educational continuity? Shattered. Post-COVID learning gaps widen into chasms as dropouts surge and faith in public schools evaporates. How can the PPP/C tout progress while our children’ futures go up in smoke?

Worse, these blazes erase cultural treasures: historic Demerara-style edifices, symbols of our heritage, replaced by soulless concrete boxes. Christ Church’s loss was not just structural; it was a cultural arson by indifference.

At the core lies governance rot: a yawning chasm between lofty fire-safety policies and their pathetic enforcement. Smoke detectors? Sprinklers? Emergency drills? Mere paper promises under a ministry that fiddles while schools burn.

Let me make this point: slapping up new structures amid fanfare is the PPP/C’s cynical ploy to deflect blame. But without ironclad safety protocols, transparent probes, and merciless accountability, these “fixes” are invitations to more disasters. Public trust is not rebuilt with bricks; it’s forged in the fire of justice.

Frankly, a government that lets schools burn (literally and figuratively) has forfeited its right to rule. It mocks our youth, squandering oil billions on vanity projects while classrooms combust. Replacements may shelter bodies, but without uprooting this negligence, we are condemning our nation to rise from ashes only to burn again. Guyana deserves better.

Summary Table: School Fires 2021–2025

In July and August 2025 fire ravaged the Critchlow Labour College, the workers’ college.