The North Georgetown Primary School yesterday officially opened a computer laboratory, reading and research centre and a tuck shop as part of school’s improvement plan.
During the simple ceremony Education Minister Shaik Baksh commended the school and called for similar projects to be emulated across the country.
According to the school’s Headmistress Yvonne Williams the reading and research centre was created with the $1 million from the school’s five-year school improvement plan which was submitted to the ministry and approved.
The headmistress said that the aim of the reading and research centre is to “improve the level of literacy. Each child must be able to read by 2015,” she said. There is already a planned timetable for the use of the facility and Grades One and Four will use the facility twice a week.
The school’s objective to ensure that each child is literate was further boosted with the donation of 13 desktop computers from the ministry. The minister noted that in this century the use of technology in education must be taken advantage of.
The ministry supplies schools with computer laboratories with success maker software, which the minister said, is good for slow learners. He plans to see that it is being used in 100 primary schools by the end of the year. “The success maker has proven its worth it has helped students learn to read and understand,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, the school also marked the opening of a tuck shop which was an initiative of the school’s Parent Teacher’s Association (PTA). Williams said parents each donated one concrete block which amounted to some 260 and with further financing, the tuck shop was created.
The shop the headmistress explained will be selling items including fresh fruit and an occasional hot meal. The monies generated from the shop will be deposited into a special account. It is hoped that the money will then be used to assist with the day-to-day running of the school especially when it comes to photocopying, the headmistress stated.
Baksh meanwhile said that he was pleased with the PTA movement in the school and pointed out that his ministry has done “satisfactory” work to regenerate the PTA movement in schools across the country.
Also attending the ceremony was Principle Education Officer Marcel Hudson and members of the school’s PTA among other special invited guests.
