Mandingo Road parents call on Education Minister for inquiry

At the start of the new academic year, the students of Lengua Islamia Primary School were forced once again to occupy a building that parents are calling a travesty. Rishi Jankie, one of the frustrated parents, is calling on the Minister of Education Hazel Manning to initiate an inquiry into the completion of the new school which is a mere 100 feet away. According to Jankie, the sod was turned to start the construction of the school in April 2001 and was expected to be finished by December 2001. However, workers have been complaining about many setbacks regarding the completion of the school.

According to Damien Ali, a former worker at the construction site, the reason why the project is taking so long is the lack of management skills on the part of the contractors who were given the projects. Ali noted that the project, which was given to Kabel at the start, has been plagued by wage disputes, absenteeism, ongoing protests and most of all, the obvious bad business tactics  occurring on a daily basis. Another disgruntled former employee at the project, Himchand Jankie, told Newsday that materials seem to disappear every week. “When I was working there one day, the materials come. When we break off for the weekend and come back the other week the material always seem to disappear. This is money that is being swindled by the company by the sale of the material,” explained Jankie.