I resisted ‘temptation’ to read about Mike Eman’s recent press conference in front of Juliana School and Beatrix School in town.
And then I couldn’t take the suspense any longer. Such hypocrisy.
He was calling for the renovation of the two iconic, almost century old bastions of education, crying crocodile tears about history and legacy, flanked by a number of retired headmasters and former teachers.
Both schools were vacated during the AVP years from one day to the next by the department of schools, apparently we have one. The buildings were deemed unsafe, overnight, and kids had to stay home, until a proper solution was found. Beatrix School was moved to the DOC building that proved inadequate and then to their current location, a rented facility in Seroe Blanco, while the lower-grades were accommodated at the friendly YMCA in Dakota.
Those low-grades were about to be moved by the frugal outgoing Minister of Education to town, to be sharing the special need kids’ school building, in the area of the Post Office, but parents objected.
Perhaps Eman thought he would gain some momentum riding on coattails of disgruntled parents who do not wish their kids to be exposed to less than perfection.
Juliana School was moved to Piedra Plat, next to Bright Bakery, which I think makes sense since there are many kids in that area. The former location in the heart of town, practically on the waterfront is perhaps not suitable anymore for an elementary school, since the neighborhood, once thriving, and a stronghold of AVP voters, has aged, young couples moved out to live in the burbs.
Surprisingly, out of nowhere, pious Eman, puts on his saintly face and campaigns for preservation.
A few things come to mind.
It was his government that moved the kids out and condemned the buildings. Forty millions million put aside for the immediate rehab of the structures where funneled into the Green Corridor, similar to the millions earmarked for an additional high-school in Noord, that were sunk into the tram project.
It was his government that borrowed 2.2 billion for who-knows-what, and arranged for all the unpaid for construction of the PPA projects. He did not bother with the schools then.
One of them, Beatrix, is an official monument.
But, he is right, we should do something with the structures. Who has any ideas??
More about it:
https://24ora.com/mep-na-ex-docentenan-ta-mike-eman-mes-a-cera-e-scolnan/
