Education Ministry verifying dorms safety, comfort

The Government of Guyana is committed to fixing school dormitories across the country and Education Minister Priya Manickchand said verification efforts are ongoing to guarantee that those facilities are in tiptop shape.

Chartered architects, Deen + Partners developed a facilities standards manual which is being used to guide rehabilitation efforts at dorms, particularly those in the hinterland.

Now, however, Manickchand said her ministry wants to verify that any rehabilitation work done is in keeping with the standards outlined in the report.

“We’re now engaged in a process to ask the same Deen and Partners to go back to all the dorms to see if the ‘fix’ is as he recommended was done, particularly with an eye to safety and comfort for the children,” Manickchand said at a press conference this week.

The condition of dorms, particularly in the hinterland regions, came under the spotlight last year following the fire at the female dormitory of the Mahdia Secondary School in Region Eight. Twenty children, 19 girls and one five-year-old boy, died as a result of that tragedy.

A Commission of Inquiry into the tragedy found that there were faults and shortcomings at the dorm. Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali said the government would invest in getting the facilities in order so that children are safe and comfortable

Meanwhile, Manickchand also said repair works are also ongoing at all schools so that there are no issues with washrooms, the electricity supplies, roofs or otherwise.