The infastructure conditions in Number 01 Public Junior High School in Viqueque district are poor because all the tin roofs are leaking and other platforms covering the school have already fallen down.
Principal of Number 01 Public Junior High School Agapito Martins said the problem was presented to the Ministry of Education but they hadn’t received an answer.
“We have also presented our proposal about school conditions,” Principal Martins said.
He explained the school had eight rooms in poor condition.
“In the rainy season we must move the children to the one room that’s dry so they can go to class.”
Principal Martins said on September 6 the Ministry of Education had seen the conditions of the school but the Education Minister Bendito Freitas said just to wait.
“We’re just waiting because the decision is coming from above, we just need to have patience,” Martins said.
The school has a total of 574 students and 43 teachers including eight volunteer teachers.
At the same place, student Florindo Pereira emphasized that in the rainy season they must run around looking for dry places because water always leaked into the school.
“The rainy season is very hard for us at our school because the rain just leaks into the classroom,” Pereira said.
He urged the government to fix the school so they could take part in the learning process properly.
Meanwhile Viqueque District Deputy Administrator Jose da Costa de Sousa rejected the claim that schools in Viqueque were of poor quality.
“It’s not that they’re poor but they lack equipment,” Deputy Administrator said.
Based on the observations of TDW at the referred school, the roof was shattered, some of the school doors were destroyed, the school lacked facilities like tables and chairs and pigs and buffalos defecated around the grounds.
