Several students of the Patentia Secondary School along with parents and teachers this morning (Thursday 26, 2017) took to the streets to protest the unhealthy conditions at the facility and its surroundings.
Students of the West Bank Demerara school held up placards bearing slogans; “Flies and mosquitoes live at Patentia Secondary School”, “We need proper Environment”, “No more wood ants” and “Fix our toilets” among others. They also complained about the prevalence of bats and its stench at the facility.
While the Headmistress for the school told media operatives that she is not allowed to say anything as a result of the Ministry of Education’s policy, Chairman of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA), Collin Williams said these problems have been persisting for some three years. He called out the Ministry for neglecting the school.
“Myself and the staff and the Head Mistress say she called a lot of times concerning it. The Ministry promise us that they gonna come and they gonna remove everything when the school closed. Instead, they come and make situation worst; they come and just pull down the ceiling, they did not kill out the bat, now the bat take over the school…the teachers teaching and bat dung coming down on them and students eating in the same room” Williams said.
The PTA Chair added that “the children have to dwell in this environment, the teachers got to dwell in this situation. If the Ministry don’t care for our teachers and children, we the PTA body care.”
It was also disclosed that effort was made to visit the Ministry and invite officials to the building, however they failed to show up.
The body promise to hold the protest for as long as it takes to fix the issue, “because when a teacher fall and dead, all the Ministry bring is a wreath, when a children fall and dead, them don’t even come to the funeral. I want to know why they just looking after the Georgetown schools.”
News Room asked about consideration to be given to students who will be missing out on classes at this time to which Williams noted that “when you want something, you got to fight for it, you got to make sacrifice, so the children got to know in the time being home or coming out here and protest with us, they got to still pick up their book and do whatever they have to do.”
The school currently holds over 800 students.
News Room attempted to speak with the Regional Education Officer but she declined to comment.
Below are photos depicting the state of the Patentia Secondary School. 
