Minister Allicock assured the Upper Mazaruni residents of govt support to their development

DPI, Guyana, Friday, July 07, 2017

Delivering the feature address at the Desiree Caesar-Fox Secondary School graduation at Waramadong in the Upper Mazaruni, Minister Allicock assured the students and residents in attendance that his Ministry will partner with the Village Councils to ensure that their issues are addressed in a timely manner.

Over 100 students graduated on July 06, making it the second batch of graduating students since the school was renamed by President David Granger in August 2015, in honour of the late Desiree Fox’s contribution to the nation’s education sector.

Minister Allicock told the parents, who came out in their numbers to witness their child/children graduate, that the government is ready to support any initiative that will aid in the development of the community and its people.

Last year, the Desiree Caesar-Fox Secondary School recorded an outstanding total of 97 percent passes at Agriculture and over 50 percent passes in all other science subjects at the CSEC examination. The students did not do so well in the other subject areas.

It is anticipated that the school will see similar results this year, since the majority of the students, excelled in those subject areas during their school years. Minister Allicock noted this is a step in the right direction for the mostly agriculture based communities.

Minister Allicock also, took the opportunity to update the residents of some of the initiatives the Ministry of Education is implementing, to tackle the poor performance of Mathematics and English, especially in the hinterland. The country is already seeing major turnaround in Mathematics at the primary level.

“The school had 97 percent passes in Agriculture, this means that you are secure in terms of food security because we need skilled and knowledgeable individuals since the communities is mostly agriculture driven …While they have done well in math’s last year, the Ministry of Education is doing what they can with limited resources and we are already seeing results.  It is not an easy task to put things in place that was out of order for many years,” Minister Allicock said.

A decade ago, the then Waramadong Secondary School had 800 students and only eight teachers, today with just over

400 students, the school now has 27 trained teachers and an additional two will be returning from CPCE soon. The Majority of those teachers hail from Waramadong and surrounding communities.

To the graduates, Minister Allicock charged them to make the best of the opportunities presented to them and pursue their dreams, since they have a role to play in the development of their community and country. He said, “You have come a far way, but this is not a next phase of that journey which started some years ago. It means the beginning of harder work. I look forward to seeing you come back like those teachers and give back to your communities”

Meanwhile, Regional Chairman, Gordon Bradford praised the parents for the role they played in their children lives throughout their school years.

Bradford assured the residents that a number of rehabilitative works will commence on the school this month. He explained that because school was in session, the Regional Administration could not have started any major works on the school.

The intention is to ensure the over 400 students are in a more comfortable learning environment, come September.

 

By: Synieka Thorne