Minister within the Ministry of Education Dr Desrey Fox on Wednesday visited the St. Cuthbert’s Mission Secondary school to assess the school’s needs and how it is affecting students’ performance.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release Fox was accompanied by a team including Chief Schools Welfare Officer Banmattie Ram and Region Four District Education Officer Lemmel Thomas.
Acting Headmaster David Fraser said the school’s curriculum needs to be expanded and more teachers will be needed for this to be done. The school has a staff of four teachers, three of whom are volunteers from Scotland attached to Project Trust of England.
Additionally, teachers requested computers to aid students in preparation of the School Based Assessments (SBAs). They said for the first time students will be writing the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination and they are concerned as students have to travel to Georgetown or visit Dora Secondary to do their SBAs. In response, Ram committed to addressing this issue.
Meanwhile Fox told the teachers that they should establish a strong Parent Teachers’ Association in the community since parental involvement is essential for a successful education system. She also told the students that they should feel privileged to attend secondary school in the Amerin-dian community. “In some countries Indigenous people find it very hard to access education because they are very poor or because it was not a part of the society’s culture,” she said. She said too though the school did not have all the necessary resources students should utilize the human resources available to them. She also encouraged them to pursue tertiary level education and advised them that scholarships were available to them.
According to GINA the $45M school currently houses 121 students.