Demountable classrooms were supposed to be easily relocated, as their presence was never intended to be for a lengthy period. There became a high level of permanency about them on many school campuses. They looked ugly and a number of them at one school once disposed new-chum Minister Bird to ask, “Do they breed?” The long-lasting edifices are sometimes viewed as icons of a government’s cavalier attitude to those citizens who are incarcerated in public schools because children of school age have no choice in the matter. One does not encounter too many demountables in private or non-state schools.The notion of temporary school accommodation has great merit under certain circumstances: post-conflagration, sudden burgeoning of numbers which may not be sustained, provision of extra services.
They are seldom placed where the passing public might be disposed to discuss government neglect; and the teachers in them often feel isolated and neglected in their location away from mainstream activity. When their presence lasts for a protracted period, their appearance becomes shoddy and neglected. In many cases easily-arranged basic services such as water and electricity are not provided. Teachers who use aids that require electric power do not appreciate such oversight.
DEMOUNTABLE DIRGE
[Tune : "The Pub with no Beer"]
It’s lonesome away from your kindred and all,
To be in a classroom where no neighbours call;
But even more likely to turn teachers sour
Is to handle a grade in a room with no power.
Demountable classroom – it stands all alone,
Divorced from the rest like a school of its own;
It feels more neglected with each passing hour
It stays unconnected with ‘lectrical power.
And if in that powerless classroom you stay,
No plays you record and no records you play;
No filmstrips those poor hungry eyes can devour -
It’s pointless to try when there’s no point for power.
The O.H.Projector the teacher can’t use,
He writes on the board and gets chalk on his shoes.
You really can’t blame him for starting to glower -
It’s hard to shed light in a room with no power.
So Powers-that-be, heed this powerful call:
Until you demount it once and for all,
Acknowledge its presence when blessings you shower,
And power that classroom, the room with no power.
