East Coast Demerara achieves universal secondary education with completion of Good Hope Secondary – Min. Manickchand

With the completion of the state-of-the-art, Good Hope Secondary School, the East Coast of Demerara has achieved universal secondary education.

This will allow some 1,000 students who will be housed at the facility to receive access to a high-quality of education. The facility has laboratories, trained teachers, and classrooms which are outfitted for secondary-aged students.

The closure of the primary tops at Paradise, Enterprise, and Enmore will be possible with the completion of the school. Additionally, it will ease the overcrowding at the secondary schools in Cummings Lodge, Bladen Hall, Golden Grove, and Plaisance.

This was disclosed by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand during the commissioning of the US$5.15 million Good Hope Secondary School, East Coast Demerara on Wednesday.

“We are well on our way to achieving universal secondary education…We know what you want for your children is for them to be better than you are. We know that is what every parent wants. We want them to have a life of quality,” Minister Manickchand stated.

The Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEIP) is responsible for the creation of the school. The SEIP, supported by the World Bank, intends to boost enrollment in general secondary schools in designated regions and develop secondary school teachers’ capacity in order to achieve secondary education for all.

In 2014, government had secured the funding to construct Good Hope Secondary, Westminster Secondary, Yarrowkabra Secondary, and three other schools to achieve universal secondary education in those regions respectively.

Importantly, Region Two will attain universal secondary education with the commissioning of Abram Zuil Secondary School on Thursday.

The education minister further explained, “It doesn’t end here. Like the East Coast, the highway and the East Bank students suffered because there were two schools that were supposed to be built there. One at Prospect and one at Yarrowkabra. Neither was started and finished.”

In about a month’s time, Yarrowkabra Secondary School will be completed to house all the students who are attending primary tops, the minister also disclosed.

Recently, contracts were inked to reconstruct St Mary’s Secondary, Christ Church Secondary, and St George’s High Schools, which will further propel Guyana to achieving universal secondary education.

The construction of educational facilities throughout the country is just one of the many initiatives being undertaken by the government to achieve universal secondary education by 2025.

With prudent management, spending, and careful planning, the leadership of the country was able to achieve universal primary education, which was declared by the United Nations, Minister Manickchand highlighted.