President David Granger yesterday hailed the role of Congregationalists as he attended the Bicentenary Anniversary celebration of the Mission Chapel Congregational Church, New Amsterdam.
According to a release from the Ministry of the Presidency, in his address Granger told the gathering that the Church occupies an “exalted position of reverence in Guyanese history” noting that it played a vital role in pioneering Christianity and community development at the dawn of Guyanese nationhood.
Guyana, the Head of State said, owes an “immeasurable debt of gratitude” to the Congregational churches for pioneering education in the villages of this country.
“Their exertions prepared Africans for Emancipation in 1838…Their efforts laid the foundation for the expansion of universal public, primary education, which we all enjoy in our country today”, he said, according to the release.
As such, Granger said “no Guyanese child needs to pay for primary education because of the foundation created. As I said in Union Village (No.53 Village Corentyne on 1st August, 2019), in anticipation of revenues from our petroleum industry, education will be free
not only at the primary level, or secondary level but also at the tertiary level.”
The President reminded the audience that education was forbidden during the era of enslavement in the Demerara-Essequibo and Berbice colonies. He added that Congregationalists, led by Rev. John Wray, pioneered education of Africans. It was Wray who began to educate the enslaved population at Plantation Le Resouvenir on the East Coast.
“He [Wray] established a day-school at which religious and secular education was provided to both Africans and Europeans. He established a school in Stabroek and one in New Amsterdam, later, when he assumed responsibilities for the mission in Berbice.”
Granger added that Congregational Churches led the way in providing education for Africans and later established schools, linked to their churches, which allowed more persons to receive a primary education.
“The Congregational Church in Guyana was phenomenal. It not only built churches, it built schools. Our children walk on two legs – church and school. Congregationalists embraced a vision of establishing in every village a school. They established schools within the villages and towns to ensure that children did not have to go very far to attend school,” he said.
