Repairing, maintaining school

TTUTA

AS THE academic year comes to an end with the usual excitement of internal and external examinations and graduations, school administrators are already mobilising resources to engage in the requisite plant repair and maintenance.

Over the years this routine component of facility management has become quite onerous and challenging with late releases of very limited funds and rigid financial guidelines that make spending school monies almost impossible.

Bearing in mind major repair works must only be carried out by the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL), through requests by principals via the permanent secretary, many school administrators are rendered virtually helpless in their quest to ensure their schools are sufficiently safe and secure to optimise teaching and learning.

At this time the annual ritual of repair works to be undertaken by the EFCL during the July/August vacation period gains prominence. Given stated financial constraints being experienced by the Ministry of Education, the quantum of repair works undertaken by EFCL to date has not been in sync with demands made by principals.

Consequently, many schools are hoping that a greater amount of repair work can be undertaken during this July/August vacation period to ensure that health and safety risks at school are mitigated.

Unfortunately, the silence of the authorities thus far on this issue of vacation repairs is quite noticeable. By now schools should have been notified of impending repair works and the EFCL would be mobilising the necessary resources and systems to ensure the programme can begin promptly after the term ends on Friday. This would ensure that the works can be completed in the two-month timeframe and not impinge on the start of the academic year in September, as has been in the past.

Regrettably, that might be wishful thinking for even during better financial times the overly centralised bureaucracy would have ensured that the programme only got going well into the vacation period.

There have been repeated calls for a change in this arrangement. The Minister of Education would have not too long ago indicated his ministry’s desire to engage the services of the local government authorities in the process following a meeting with the Minister of Local Government.

Thus far, no further statements regarding the mechanics of this proposed arrangement have been forthcoming. In the meantime, schools continue to be plagued with problems of malfunctioning sewer systems, leaking roofs, inadequate furniture and faulty electrical wiring.

Many of these issues would had been flagged by school officials years ago but were not attended to in a timely and preventative manner. In fact, preventative maintenance of plant does not seem to be part of the modus operandi of the Ministry of Education. As a result infrastructural issues are left to progress to the chronic stages, disrupting school

functioning, before they can receive attention.

What is even more disheartening is the very often adopted position of the authorities that they were unaware of the existence of the problem, much to the chagrin of school officials who would have followed their “chain of command” in reporting the problem.

In the past, meetings have been held with the relevant stakeholders, including TTUTA, to address the issue of vacation repairs to schools, but that seems to have become a thing of the past.

School officials are now loathing, sitting helplessly and awaiting news, hoping that requisite repair/improvement works will be undertaken at their respective schools. This is a most untenable situation, where school administrators are almost rendered impotent when it comes to certain aspects of facility management.

Thankfully, owing to the resourcefulness of some principals, the services of other governmental agencies are very often mobilised, owing to the goodwill that schools enjoy, to assist with many aspects of routine repairs and maintenance. Failing this, many more schools would be forced to shut their doors on account of health and safety concerns, much to the consternation of the authorities and the wider public.

It is rather unfortunate that, having accepted that education is the very foundation of our thrust toward human capital development, the physical state of the nation’s schools is managed in such a haphazard manner.

Every year the nation goes through the anxiety of this so-called “vacation repair programme” and this year seems to be no different. How can schools deliver quality education in physical facilities that are so often unsafe and inadequate and compounded by an atmosphere of uncertainty? Surely by now we can find a better way to repair and maintain our schools.