Andrew Wildes, Gleaner Writer
Members of the Dunoon Technical High School team and their teacher, Brenton McLean, who attended the launch of the Access to Information Students' Challenge at Jamaica House in September. The team members are, from left: Nico Tyndale, Sanya Smith, Terry-Ann Goodridge and head boy, Donald Hall. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
DUNOON TECHNICAL High School participants in the Access to Information Students' Challenge contests have reported meagre gains in their quest to receive obtain prerequested data from various government ministries.
Since the launch of the competition, Dunoon has made requests of four government ministries, for documents that provide answers to the range of questions they are asking. The participating students are Nico Tyndale, Sanya Smith, Terry-Ann Goodridge, and the school's head boy, Donald Hall.
REQUESTING DOCUMENTS
They wrote the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture requesting documents with information on the total number of students entered for government-assisted CXC subjects, the amount budgeted and the ratio of students entered from traditional, upgraded and technical high schools.
The Office of the Prime Minister was asked to provide information on Jamaica House and Kings House. Dunoon asked the acreage of each property, the necessary staff complement and the budgeted amount for maintenance of the properties. In response, the request had been forwarded to the relevant ministry.
For students and travellers to Dunoon the deplorable state of the roads is impossible to miss, and so the team tried to discover why. They wrote to the Ministry of Local Government asking for documents that would show if any contracts had been given out for repairing the roads, and if so, to whom they were awarded.
Donald Hall said he had been particularly interested in the Kingston Harbour, which is the world's seventh largest natural harbour. "Since it is so important why is it in such a condition," he asked. The Ministry of Housing and Environment was written to get information on whether plans had been drafted for work to be done to clean up the harbour, the estimated time and cost of such a project, and the source of funding. They asked also whether the project was actually undertaken.
Brenton McLean, the teacher in charge of the team, told The Gleaner that the ATI officers have all been quite helpful but the most forthcoming ministry thus far has been the Ministry of Finance. He related, though, that when the team had visited the Ministry of Water and Housing they waited for over two hours and still left without receiving attention as the responsible officer was said to be 'out to lunch'. Mr. McLean noted that replies had come from all ministries, but several responses stated that their requests were forwarded to more relevant ministries.
GOOD RESPONSE TIMES FROM MINISTRY
Donald Hall said he thought it would have been a more simple process. He said the ministries' response times were good, but the forwarding of questions stretches the time.
Participating teams are comprised of four students and no more than one teacher. Schools are required to submit four questions relevant to their particular locality to the Access to Information officers at the applicable ministries.
The Access to Information Students' Challenge is organised through The Gleaner in association with the Access to Information Stakeholders Committee. Schools participating in the competition are Glenmuir High, Guys Hill High, St. George's College, Dunoon Technical and Kingston College. The competition began October 3 and will conclude on January 19, 2006.
