Falling through the system


Stabroek News
December 23, 1999


An interview in our Sunday paper a few weeks ago with the woman whose husband had been shot dead by the police at the station raised some important issues. She had been abused by her husband many times, on this occasion he had threatened to kill her. She reported it to the station (she had reported some abuses previously), he was taken roughly to the station and unfortunately later shot.

The woman told our reporter she had three children. She had no birth certificates for any of them as she had never registered their births. She was not even sure at this stage what their dates of birth were. She said that because she had no birth certificates she had not been able to have them admitted at primary school as the school wanted to see these certificates. The children were therefore completely illiterate. Being herself virtually illiterate the woman, who lived with her children (and, before his death, her husband) in a squatter shack on the railway line at Enmore could herself not handle the formal social system with confidence at any level. She did not, for example, know how to go about getting birth certificates for her children at this stage. Herself and her family had, so to speak, fallen out of the system. They were surviving as best they could.

There are no doubt similar cases in urban areas. All these cases would appear in principle to fall within the scope of the much overworked and underpaid Probation and Welfare Service which falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. But can the reach of that service extend to rural areas? If not, to whom can that poor and desperate woman turn for help and guidance?

There is a danger that members of the more remote squatting communities and their children will fall out of the educational and general social system. Perhaps as a preliminary measure Minister Indra Chandarpal can assign one or two of her officers to visit some of these areas, including Enmore, and interview the people living there to ascertain if the children are going to school and if there are any other problems that require attention. It is depressing to think that in this day and age there are Guyanese children who are growing up without the benefit of any formal education. The ministry should do its best to put an end to this.


A © page from:
Guyana: Land of Six Peoples