Thirty-five students were on Friday presented with certificates of participation after completing a one-week Annual Children’s Heritage Awareness Pro-gramme that was conducted by the National Trust of Guyana.
The programme, which was done free of cost and held for the sixth year, was aimed at educating the younger generation about the country’s cultural and natural heritage, with a focus on monuments, in keeping with the mandate of the agency.
Speaking at the closing ceremony on Friday, Nirvana Persaud, Chief Executive Officer of the National Trust, said the children were also given exposure and knowledge through various mediums, including presentations, tours, interactive sessions and group work.
Some of the activities they were involved in included model making, art, archaeology and site visits to monuments and the zoo.
The children, whose ages ranged from eight to eleven, engaged in team building and experience sharing and also learned to be creative by making the models of some of the heritages.
They also excelled in a written quiz with 100% passes and some students were awarded special prizes for their outstanding performance.
They were also presented with booklets about local heritage sites and were asked to cherish them as they would help with their social studies syllabus.
Persaud was happy that the students have some grasp of the rules of buildings so they could share the information with their siblings and friends. This, she said, would contribute to the preservation of the historical sites, so that they can be passed on to the next generation.
Chief Executive Officer of the National Trust Board Lennox Hernandez remarked that the programme is important because it helped to “impress upon the young people the importance of the culture and historic buildings….”
He congratulated the students and hoped that they would have a desire to continue to appreciate, understand and remember the rules of the buildings, such as to show respect to them and not to destroy them.
Some of the students expressed appreciation for the opportunity to be part of the programme and said they have learned a lot.
In delivering the charge to the children, Minister within the Ministry of Education Nicolette Henry told them that the knowledge they have gained would help them to develop a sense of national pride.
She said that while they would have learned how to take care of the heritage sites and their environment, culture is much more than that. She encouraged them to develop a culture of showing kindness and compassion for each other and to be courteous and polite.
The minister also implored the participants to do their best at whatever they do and to listen carefully to what their teachers or parents tell them because “good listeners are usually good learners.”
