Dear Editor,
One of my hobbies is farming. I learnt to appreciate Agricultural Science to a large extent when I was a student at Ann’s Grove Methodist School (now Ann’s Grove Community High School). During my time at school, all schools in Afro-Guyanese communities had school farms to help our young minds and hearts appreciate the extreme importance of Agricultural Science for economic independence and as one of our careers.
Mr Editor, school farms in school compounds in Afro-Guyanese communities are now virtually dead. Afro-Guyanese students are more interested in attending extra lessons than engaging in an extra-curricular activity such as farming, which can truly create jobs for them and get them out of poverty.
The Guyana Teachers’ Union, the Ministry of Education and school managers in Afro-Guyanese communities need to urgently restore school farms to help young Afro-Guyanese appreciate Agricultural Science. It is easier to bend a tree (teach a child) when that tree is a plant.
Yours faithfully,
Bro. Mark Nigel James
