Ministry dismisses St Winefride's contractor
Stabroek News
January 9, 2003
School should be ready shortly
Teachers of St Winefride's Secondary School were yesterday still refusing to work in what they say are the unhealthy conditions of the newly-renovated building even as the Ministry of Education seeks to hire another contractor to complete the job.
On Monday the teachers and students lined the front entrance of the compound in protest over the job done by the contractor who was hired to do remedial work on the school after a one-day walk-out last September. Since then the situation has remained the same. Unlike the first two days of the school term when most of the students turned out, yesterday only a few reported to school. The teachers could again be seen sitting under the building marking their attendance registers and chatting with colleagues. Yesterday on another visit to the school, Stabroek News observed a truckload of new furniture being offloaded. One teacher said that the furniture was due since the last school term, but was only delivered yesterday.
In a release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) on Tuesday, the Ministry of Education stated that it was the irresponsible attitude of the contractor that caused classes not to be ready on Monday. This was according to Terrence Griffith, acting Chief Building Inspector of the Ministry Education.
According to the release, the agreement with the previous contractor was nullified after his failure to bring the building to an acceptable standard in time for the new school term.
It was further stated that the ministry is in the process of having another contractor complete the building. The release said that the Ministry of Education is making every effort for the school to be operational again in a couple of days. Reports are that there was damage to the blackboards and learning-aids while fans and items from the school's canteen were also missing.
