Minister within the Ministry of Communities Dawn Hastings-Williams on a recent outreach exercise to Smith Creek, Barima River, Region One told residents that every child there must attend school.
“We want to make sure every child goes to school…they must have access to quality education, trained teachers, exercise and text books and at least one hot meal so they can be motivated to go to school,” the minister said, according to GINA.
She added “Our government is pushing so that our schools can be equipped with materials, books, televisions, and computers so that our children could be able to move and understand the world better around them”.
Residents told the minister that the lack of school uniforms poses a major threat to their regular attendance. However, they were informed that the school uniform material for the village’s children will arrive within the space of two weeks.
Sherman Lewis, Chairperson of the village’s Community Development Council told the minister of the intention to have residents trained as tailors and seamstresses so they can sew uniforms for the community’s children. Smith Creek was recently gifted two new sewing machines by a non-governmental organisation.
They were told that they can request uniforms; however the disadvantage with this is that they may not fit properly. If persons in the area can learn the trade and produce uniforms from the materials given, it would bring in income for families.
