$30M primary school for Kamarang
̶ govt continues to bridge gap between Hinterland and Coast
DPI, Guyana, Saturday, September 7, 2019
Almost 170 students are settling into their brand-new school building at the recently commissioned Kamarang Primary School. Kamarang, located in the Upper Mazaruni District in Region 7 (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), is an Indigenous Village home to roughly 1,000 persons.
The building provides new facilities for the almost 200 students and is coupled with an improved learning environment as compared to the building where the school was previously housed.
Last October, as the Headmaster Alex Crammer described, a ‘threatening crack’ destroyed one of the columns supporting the school’s building. “The rafters cracked, and the entire school had to be evacuated,” Crammer explained.
This led to the construction of a new and structurally-sound $30M building to ensure that the students would not miss out on their education.
Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Nicolette Henry explained that the government through the Ministry of Education aims to provide equal educational opportunities to all Guyanese and is constructing and rehabilitating schools both on the coastland and in the Hinterland.
“In keeping with our educational policy which aims to ensure that every child has access to education, attends school and achieves the level that allows him/her to graduate from school with the requisite knowledge, skills and values, more schools will continue to be built,” Minister Henry remarked.
She also expressed her confidence that the effort being put into eliminating the gaps between hinterland and coast will continue to produce increased student performance from hinterland regions as seen in the last few years.
Urging parents, teachers and students to maintain the newly constructed structure at Kamarang, Minister of State, Hon. Dawn Hastings-Williams noted that the building was comfortable and conducive to learning.
“It has been a long time the Kamarang PTA has been calling for a new school building and now it has been realised,” she added.
Regional Chairman, Cuyuni-Mazaruni, Gordon Bradford spoke to the commitment of several stakeholders to ensure that development is set in motion. “This [commissioning] should reinforce in us the interest that our government – both National and Regional- has in our young people. Education has to be the engine of growth, education builds a nation,” Bradford said.
The commissioning of the schools comes during Education Month, 2019, themed “Education: Key to National Development.”