Software to tackle food shortage at dorms – Manickchand

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand says systems will be established to avoid any recurrence of food shortages in dormitories.

In a video statement, Manickchand said that the ministry, while maintaining its reliance on people, will soon commence the use of software which will give off alerts when food starts to run low.

“We are trying very hard. Food is not something we would skimp on. What we have to do is to make sure we are better able to learn quickly of these kinds of issues.

“The Ministry of Education is putting a system in place that will still have reliance on people on the ground but a software in place where we can learn when stocks are going down,” Manickchand noted.

The Education Minister was addressing the recent food shortage which affected teachers and students living at the D.C. Caesar Fox Secondary at Waramadong, Region Seven (Cuyuni Mazaruni) dormitory.

She further explained that it remains difficult to get information from some communities in far-flung areas, however, she promised that these situations will be assessed with adequate solutions to minimise any recurrence.

“Where you have a large collection of persons you are more likely to have someone who doesn’t do what they are supposed to do. Sometimes communication and what is intended is not understood…and you have something like this which for us in the PPP/C is unacceptable,” the Education Minister lamented.

Manickchand assured that the children and teachers have food now and said similar challenges in all far-flung areas are being addressed.

“That exposure caused ration to be sent in so we are trying to make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” she noted even as she explained how electricity shortfall was affecting the storage of meat, however, other solutions are being sought in this regard.

Following the circulation of the Facebook post last week in relation to the Waramadong issue, Manickchand said then that an investigation will be launched at the school’s dormitory as concerns were also raised about the quality of the food served to children staying there.

“For me, I am glad we know about it so that we can address it. Not only in the short term, but in the long term so that we can avoid it.”

Albeit, she pointed out that while central government has stepped in to bring relief, it is an issue that should have been handled at the regional level through supervision by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.