The Guyanese Languages Unit (GLU) supports President Irfan Ali’s call for a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the tragedy at Mahdia. We suggest the following terms of reference:
1) To investigate the specific circumstances leading up to and contributing to the deaths of 19 children at Mahdia, with a view to making recommendations for changes which would prevent a recurrence of such an event across all such school dormitories in the country.
2) To investigate the general conditions of school dormitories across the country with a view to instituting and enforcing Codes of Practice for all buildings, including the norms of the International Standards Organization (ISO) for fire safety and occupancy.
3) To make recommendations that would improve the quality of the living conditions and educational experience of the children occupying these dormitories; these recommendations would include but not be limited to the financing, physical plant, adult supervision, safety, security, food, and house rules for those living in the dormitory facilities.
4)
(a) To investigate whether and when there might be better options for children in remote areas, to avoid them being separated from their parents and communities in order to receive an education.
(b) To make recommendations as to what these options might be, and how, where and when they might be implemented.
5) To investigate and make recommendations on any other matters such as drop-out rates for Indigenous children and exam pass rates which reflect Guyana’s response to the right to education of children from these remote communities as the commission might consider relevant.
6) To investigate more broadly the arrangements for the provision of education to children from these remote communities and to make recommendations concerning the maintenance of community language and identity as part of that education.
7) To consider recommendations on government funding for:
(a) better equipped schools and
(b) better paid teachers.
The Guyanese Languages Unit 