The rapidly expanding introduction of the Five Priority Areas into secondary schools across the nation continued this week as Bartica was added to the list of regions where sport will be introduced.
Head of the Unit of Allied Arts Priority Programme, Saeed Zameen, met with education officials and schools in the area to assure them that, in coordination with the Nexgen Golf Academy and Guyana Golf Association, coaches will be made available for golf and other activities.
Schools in Region 7 were among the many others that saw learners take golf as a PE elective at CSEC in 2023, and dozens more are scheduled for 2024. With the addition of the Priority Programme, Grades 7, 8, and 9 will join in learning golf as one of the three sports required for physical education.
According to Mr. Zameen, “We have been able to develop the mandate set forth by Minister Priya Manickchand to establish the Priority Programme at a pace that is extremely satisfying, and especially with the assistance of Mr. Hussain and his team, the introduction of sport at PE in Regions 2, 4, 5, Georgetown, and now soon Regions 3, 6, and 7 means that over 50 secondary schools will have sports being coached at PE from Grades 7-9.”
President of the GGA Aleem Hussain explained, “With the assistance of donors from overseas and our local corporate sponsors, along with the preparatory steps we took with Mr. Nicholas Fraser from Unit of Allied Arts from 2022 onwards, we are in a strong position to put Guyana firmly as the number one golf development nation in the entire region. No other country has been able to develop such a comprehensive training programme, and we feel that this will lead to dominant performances in both education and competition in the coming years.”
