President Irfaan Ali on Monday commissioned a new state-of-the art North West Secondary School in Mabaruma that will provide some 575 students with academic classes and vocational training.
The school, which cost approximately $346 million, occupies a total area of 10,200 square feet. It includes 23 classrooms, three laboratories (Physics, Chemistry and Biology) and a modified technical drawing room for a computer science laboratory, washrooms including for children with special needs, a staff room, a secretary’s office, four canteens, a practical instruction department, a janitor’s room, a storage room, and two elevators.
Noting the importance of education and the government’s commitment to providing quality facilities for future generations, President Ali highlighted the investments made and said this would continue to ensure every child has access to quality education opportunities. He said that the government was committed to training and educating teachers in the hinterland communities, as well as investing in teachers’ personal welfare, competence, and value. He also pointed to the need for quality infrastructure to support teachers and students effectively.
Outlining the government’s vision for state-of-the-art practical instruction centres and technical institutions in hinterland communities, he emphasized the importance of providing world-class certifications for technical skills like welding and electrical work. He noted the importance of providing quality training and education to ensure competitiveness and value in the job market.
Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain recounted the destruction of the school by fire on September 24, 2021 and the government commitment made on September 25, 2021 to restore it. The new school. he said, is a Grade A secondary school which means that it has a headteacher, two deputy headteachers and an administrator.
“This building has been built to ASTM standards. It has been built to the building codes of Guyana. It has also been built by SMM seven standards, which is used globally for all measurements. Demolition of what existed before was done in such a way so inspections could have been done to ensure what was good and what was not necessarily good. So what you have here is a building absolutely free of defects by engineering standards,” Hussain said.
In addition, he said the infrastructure caters for special education on the ground floor. In the school there are four classrooms with collapsible walls. He added, “… you can pull the screens and those classrooms merge into a huge area for graduation or something of that sort… There is a sick bay on the ground floor… The internal corridor measures six feet by 95 feet long. As the external corridor is eight feet by 95 feet. On the first floor, we have seven classrooms measuring 15 feet by 25 feet. We have six classrooms with collapsible walls upstairs… At the top, there are 18 classrooms I should add. Most importantly, as it stands, there are 11 fire alarms across the school to be added as well, which should be completed very shortly.” The school will also have smoke detectors.
He said that the board of the school will be headed by Region One Chairman Brentnol Ashley.
Minister of Education Priya Manickchand added that right now in Region One the government is building five secondary schools. “The schools will give us 3,000 spaces [for students],” she said. “And that is only Region One… In Region Seven, Eight and Nine, we have several secondary schools going up in Region Seven, we have four secondary schools going up in Region Eight, we have three secondary schools going up and in Region Nine, we have five secondary schools going up.”
Others present at the ribbon cutting ceremony were the headmistress of the school, toshao of the village, students of the school and government officials.
