President David Granger on Thursday threw out a challenge to the students and alumni of Tutorial High School to establish an Education Scholarship Trust to assist children from deprived families secure a secondary education.
In his address at the school’s Annual Graduation and Prize-Giving ceremony, Granger reminded the audience that providing a secondary education for those who otherwise could not afford it was the model and tradition that the institution’s founder Austin Castello had applied when he established the school.
According to a release from the Ministry of the Presidency, Granger assured the school that it would have the support of the administration in the venture. “If you are prepared to establish a scholarship trust to help poor, underprivileged families to send their children here, I am prepared to put good money into that fund to help you to help yourself,” he said.
He described the graduates as inheritors of an institution built on the Castello model, and urged that they preserve this tradition despite the school now being state-owned.
In September, 1939, Castello officially opened the doors of Tutorial High School to the children of working class families, many of whom benefitted from its services despite not being able to pay the $2 per term fee, due to credit arrangements.
The charge to the students was delivered by Sita Nagamootoo, wife of the Prime Minister, while alumnus Dr Barton Scotland, in the feature address, emphasised the importance of values and ethics in developing a professional reputation.
Headmistress Walterine McLeod also shared that the school had achieved an overall pass rate of 71% at the recent Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, representing a 23 % increase from 2014 and placing the school among the top 10 performers in Georgetown.
