Forty-five schools across five regions will compete in this year’s fourth annual Secon-dary Schools’ Hydroponics Competition as part of Education Month activities.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release the contest was launched by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture at the Leonora Secondary School.
The contest will be done in two phases: a training workshop for teachers and students and the preparation and planting of the hydroponics gardens. The gardens will then beevaluated fortnightly. The competition will run for six weeks.
Speaking at the launch, First Lady Deolatchmee Ramotar said she was pleased to be associated with the initiative. “I have always been attached to the land and to nature… I have found that gardening promotes inner peace and harmony,” she said.
The First Lady noted that the competition can foster healthy habits and build character in students as it rekindles interest in Agriculture Science. The competition will also introduce children to the farming technology. “Hydro-ponics has great potential in Guyana, it is not a new method; it has been around for a long time,” Mrs Ramotar said. She lauded the IICA and FAO for their roles in promoting hydroponics in Guyana and expressed the hope that the schools will take full advantage of it.
FAO Representative Dr Lystra Fletcher-Paul said she was very impressed with the way the competition has progressed since it was introduced in 2006. The contest is one component of a bigger food project titled ‘Expansion of Hydroponics activities in Guyana’ which FAO is funding in collaboration with IICA. “The sum of $2.2 million has been budgeted for the project, $1.5 million of which will be put up by FAO,” GINA said.
The hydroponics units, which FAO will be funding will be established in two practical instruction centres in Georgetown, one on the East Coast Demerara, one at the St Ignatius Secondary School in Region Nine and another on the premises of the Blue Flame Women’s Group in Mabaruma, Region One.
Fletcher-Paul expects that at the end of the project there will be an increase in the number of teachers, students and extension officers trained in hydroponics technology and an increase in the number of students completing their practical requirements in hydroponics for the CSEC curriculum.
Bygeval Multilateral School won last year’s competition, GINA said.
Education Month is being observed under the theme ‘Transforming the nation through inclusive education.’
