Dear Editor,
Before I highlight the 29th year of Santa Rosa Secondary school in Moruca, it is good to give a brief trajectory of primary education at Santa Rosa. According to recorded church documents, the first Catholic elementary school in the interior of British Guiana was established at Santa Rosa in 1880, four years after the enactment of the Com-pulsory Education Ordinance in 1876. Under this system it made education compulsory for children up to the age of 12 years in rural areas and up to 14 years for children in Georgetown and other urban places. The first educative institution at Santa Rosa catered for children out of Moruca, and from as far as the Rupununi. The standard learning at that time was centered on four R’s: “Reading”, “Riting”, “Rithmatic and “Religion”.
This model of education produced persons like Stephen Campbell, the first catechist from Moruca who went to the Rupununi in the 1920s to help spread Catholicism to his fellow Amerindians at Sawariwau, the center for expanding the Catholic faith to other communities in South Rupununi. From his several years of ground breaking work in church education to the Wapichan, this indigenous catechist went on to become the first Amerindian Parliamentarian. Fast forwarding, from 1880 to 1994, 114 years afterwards, a Secondary School was officially gazetted. For a very long time people from Moruca could only obtain a secondary education outside of the sub-region at Mabaruma and Georgetown.
Prior to 1994, several persons, along with teachers, who saw the importance of secondary education, organized collectively to request from the respective authorities a secondary educative institution for the sub-region. While they were involved in the process, there were acting head masters prior to the official gazetted date. Albeit, according to the archive at the Santa Rosa Secondary, when the school was gazetted on 3rd of January 1994, the first acting Head Master was Peter Abraham. Recorded documents from the school’s archive also highlighted that since the institution was gazetted in 1994, 532 students enrolled at the secondary school; and from then onwards numbers kept rising up to present where 735 students are enrolled.
On January 3rd 2023, the school completed 29 years of existence, producing many brilliant Morucans in diverse areas. In the area of health, the school produced its first medical doctor, Dr. Orin Lewis from Waramuri, and subsequently other medical doctors and veterinarians. In other fields the institution produced persons such as: The Regional Vice Chairperson, Anansha Peters, radio announcer and Indigenous activist, Graham Atkinson, Deputy Chief Educa-tion Officer for Amerindian and Hinterland Education Develop-ment, Marti De Souza, and others, whose achievements are to be celebrated, as the school advances.
In concluding, for Santa Rosa Secondary 29th anniversary, I would like to commend the hardworking Head Teacher, Sir Glenn De La Cruz, all teachers, staff and the parents and friends and other benefactors, for the great job and service they are doing in delivering secondary education to the people of Moruca. Also recognition must be given to the first pioneers and previous head masters who worked hard for the school’s establishment, and for developing the institution to where it is at present. It is my hope that parents, community leaders and others in Moruca continue to support the school as it prepares their children to contribute to the development of the sub-region and the country. Happy 29th anniversary Santa Rosa Secondary!
Sincerely,
Medino Abraham SJ, MSc
Researcher on Indigenous
education in Guyana
