The spanking new $350 million Wisburg Secondary School at Wisroc, Linden in Region Ten was officially commissioned yesterday amidst calls for more student, teacher and parental input, seen as critical to the school’s performance and standards.
The school is among eight completed under the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID) $4.7 billion Guyana Education Access Programme (GEAP), the Government Information Agency reported yesterday.
The project has been ongoing in Guyana since 1998 and has funded the building of two new schools and refurbishing of six existing secondary schools.
According to GINA, the school, which has a student population of 910 and 46 teachers, is equipped with resources for information technology, industrial art, home economics and sciences. Its motto is ‘Education: Investment for Life’.
The agency reported that the highlight of the commissioning ceremony was the symbolic cutting of the ribbon by Atina Little, a First Form student of the school who was judged Region Ten’s top performer at the National Grade Six Assessment.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Education Ministers Shaik Baksh and Desrey Fox, British High Commissioner Fraser Wheeler, DfID representatives and regional officials attended the commissioning ceremony.
Hinds, GINA said, hailed the new school as significant for the people of Linden.
“This spanking new facility is a visible indication of the commitment of government to education. We recognise that education and educational institutions are the backbone of the development of our nation and our people in every area of Guyana,” the agency quoted him as saying.
It said too that after he inspected the new school he echoed sentiments first expressed by Wheeler, who pointed out that more student, teacher and parental input would be critical to the development of the school’s performance and standards.
Baksh was monitoring the progress during the school’s construction, GINA said, and during his address at the commissioning ceremony yesterday shared his optimism about the school’s performance, which he attributed to the high level of trained teachers in the region. Baksh also disclosed that DfID has agreed to a maintenance plan for the Wisburg Secondary School but urged the regional authorities, staff and students of the school to take on the responsibility of maintenance.
He also commended the region for its improved performance at the 2006 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations, particularly in agriculture, integrated science and business subjects.
However, he urged that more emphasis be placed on improving the core subjects, Mathematics and English and Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
“We are operating a system of decentralized education management, and it is expected that the region will take on more responsibilities through the RDC, the Education Committee and equally important through the PTAs which are expected to play a vital role in improving the quality of education,” GINA quoted Baksh as saying.
The commissioning of the new school according to Region Ten Chairman Mortimer Mingo, is symbolic of another milestone in the endeavour to deliver quality education in Region Ten and across Guyana.
In this regard he pledged commitment at the level of the RDC towards ensuring that the facility is utilised to its maximum as it seeks to achieve recognition as a high performing school.
