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Sep 04, 2013 News
“It will be cleaned” – Works Services Group, Public Works Ministry
Given the unwelcoming state of the Queen’s College (QC) outer yards at the beginning of the new school year, Social Activist, Mark Benschop, has taken up the task of making the entrance to the senior secondary school more inviting to its students.
Benschop, who also has an interest in running for Mayor of Georgetown, informed Kaieteur News that upon arriving at the school early on Monday to drop his son off, he was greeted by overgrown weeds which were crowding the parapet and blanketing the trench encircling the compound.
He added that when he pointed out the distasteful appearance of the school’s surrounding areas to one of its senior representatives, especially with regard to the overgrown weeds, he was met with a response that “there is nothing much they (the school) can do about it.”
Benschop concluded then that “if the school cannot do it; and the Mayor and City Council is not doing it then it is incumbent on parents to get the work done.”
At around 09:00 hours on Monday morning, works began with the trimming of the parapet at the Camp Street entrance and continued yesterday with the clearing of the weeds in the trench running along Camp Street.
The works are expected to be completed tomorrow when the Benschop Foundation intends to replace the garbage bins in and around the compound.
Benschop added that he hopes the works will send a direct message to those responsible to “get their act together and stop playing the blame game and put students first”.
He spoke of other “questionable school conditions” that would impact the turnout of students at school, particularly “furniture issues”. “Children cannot go to school in that condition.”
“You cannot wait until the beginning of a new school year then look to correct certain school issues,” the social activist stressed. “It is Education Month and politicians need to stop playing politics and move on with education our children.”
Commenting on the issue yesterday was Mayor Hamilton Green, who noted that it is not the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) that is responsible for the maintenance of the school compound.
The Mayor explained that since the roads that run alongside the school are declared public roads, the maintenance of the parapet and trench surrounding Queen’s College would fall under the Ministry of Public Works.
When contacted, Coordinator of the Ministry of Works Services Group, Geoffrey Vaughn, told Kaieteur News that one should not conclude that the area in question is not being maintained, since the Ministry concentrates a lot on those areas. He said that the trench surrounding Queen’s College was cleared recently; however, it appears under maintained due to the fast growth of the weeds.
Vaughn added that projects that fall under the Ministry are not prioritized according to events such as the opening of schools. He said that the project would remain under whatever priority it falls since the works of the Ministry are undertaken in a rotational manner.
“We cannot shift another programme to deal with that. The area will be cleaned but other programmes have to move on.”
The Works Coordinator noted that currently, maintenance works are being carried out in other school areas.
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