Education Ministry continues to make schooling accessible
DPI, Guyana, Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Another nursery school in the growing East Bank of Demerara community of Diamond has been officially opened.
The Diamond #2 Nursery School which actually opened its doors on September 4, 2017, for the new academic year with 77 students enrolled and a staff of six was officially commissioned today by Acting Assistant Chief Education Officer with responsibility for Nursery, Samantha Williams.
This comes less than one week after Eastville Nursery School was commissioned in South Annandale, also on the East Coast of Demerara, and is part of the Ministry of Education’s pursuit to make education easily accessible to all.
The nursery school which is located in 5th Avenue, Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara was constructed by Eron Lall Civil Engineering Works at a cost of $22.1 Million. It has the capacity to accommodate one hundred and twenty students in six classrooms.
Attending the small ceremony were members of the Department of Education, the Regional Democratic Council, the staff and pupils of the nursery school.
It was noted that while there are other schools in the vicinity, the distance was an inconvenience to the young students and their parents. This, coupled with the overcrowding of these schools due to the growing populace of nursery aged students, affected the attendance and punctuality rates.
In brief remarks Region 4, Regional Chairman, Genevieve Allen stated that when the first nursery school in Diamond was commissioned in 2013, numerous parents from the Diamond, Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara community flocked to the Regional Democratic Council’s Office in Triumph, East Coast Demerara, requesting that their child be enrolled in the institution.
It was then, she noted, that the RDC recognised that there was an increasing number of children within the community and became “determined to have a new school for nursery aged students.”
Allen disclosed that in 2016, the regional budget saw them being able to make the project a reality with funds allocated by the central government. “A further assessment of the needs for this community indicates to us that there is need for further accommodation of our students.” She indicated that the “RDC took a decision that with savings under the education capital budget, an extension to this building was sought from the Ministry of Finance.”
She announced that permission was granted and that construction for the extension of the school building will commence in August of this year.
Acting Assistant Chief Education Officer with the responsibility for Nursery, Samantha Williams delivered the featured address on behalf of the Minister of Education, Honorable Nicolette Henry.
Williams reiterated that the Government of Guyana is committed to the renaissance of the country’s school system noting that the commission of this new school is the “testament of hard work which is now bearing fruit.”
She noted that “new modern facilities improve not only our school’s physical environment, but it also contributes to the learning culture where imagination is set free and your talents will develop rooted in the foundation of reading, writing and arithmetic.”
Attendees were entertained with musical renditions by the Diamond Secondary Steel Pan Orchestra as well as by the pupils of the Diamond #2 Nursery School who sang folk songs and performed a skit.
After the ceremony, Regional Chairman Allen officially handed over the keys to the building to the Headmistress, Nicola Jeffers.
By: Anara Khan.
Images: Jules Gibson.