No permission granted for prefab Mae’s School on Farnum Ground – Parag

Last Updated on Wednesday, 19 November 2025, 20:39 by Writer

Education minister Sonia Parag has said that no permission has been granted for the construction of a prefabricated school on Farnum Ground, Subryanville.

“I will address it frankly with you. Being the former Minister of Local Government no permission was given. Being the Minister of Education no permission was given, so we have been listening to both sides,” she told a recent multi-sectoral consultation on tackling bullying in schools.

Ms Parag made known the government’s position after veteran educator, Bonita Bone-Harris who also resides in Subryanville, expressed concerns at the forum about the takeover of a section of Farnum Ground by the new owner of Mae’s School.

The prefabricated building was recently erected so that the school could continue operations after its building was destroyed by fire earlier this year.

Ms Bone-Harris said the approach by authorities to residents’ concerns about the use of the Farnum Ground amounted to bullyism. “That is bullying because we have written letters to all including the Ministry of Education, to all of the parties concerned because that man is in violation of a whole set of building codes,” she said.

The Mayor and City Council earlier this year agreed to allow the prefab school structure to continue its operations there until early next year, while openly acknowledging on several occasions that no permission was ever granted for that structure to be erected.

Community representatives, including two lawyers, have been writing the City Council, Central Housing and Planning Authority and the Ministry of Education numerous letters citing legal and regulatory infractions but they have not filed any court action.

The owner of Mae’s School had told a City Council meeting that plans were underway to construct a new school building, dismantle the prefab structure and restore Farnum Ground.

She urged the forum that also included the Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond and Minister of Human Services Dr Vindhya Persaud as well as teachers and parents to consider that the problem of bullying is multifaceted. “We have to be aware of the different forms that bullying takes before we actually start to address bullying at the level of children,” she said.

Ms Bone-Harris questioned the government’s intention to crack down on bullying in schools in the short term, despite the fact that there is bullying in the home and at schools by teachers who engage in immoral and amoral behaviours.

“We have to acknowledge what is going on in our country. We have to pay attention to all of the places where bullying is taking place. We have to be able to accept children for whatever it is that they present,” she also said.

The forum decided to establish a multi-sectoral task force, an online platform to report bullying and use the Human Services’ anti-bullying policy to address the problem.

The home affairs minister urged parents and teachers to take advantage of the Guyana Police Force’s Cyber Crime Unit to report cyber bullying.