– through Gov’t and CDB funding

RESIDENTS of Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo and surrounding communities yesterday welcomed the commissioning of a spanking new, state-of-the-art nursery school built at a cost of $98.8M. Architecturally, the building is the first of its kind in the country, built specifically with all the necessary amenities to accommodate nursery-age children.Funding for the school was made possible through the Caribbean Development Bank’s Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF). Prior to the construction of the school, nursery-age children were housed at the Tuschen Primary school. The school currently has an enrolment of 180 students.

Also present at the commissioning were Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. Denzil Douglas, Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill, President of the CDB, William Warren Smith, and members of the

bank’s board of governors.
Delivering the feature address, Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds said that education and training is the way to greater production and productivity, and will no doubt result in people becoming better citizens.
He said that from very early on, the PPP/C Administration recognised this and has committed to ensuring that education and training remain the most important goal that could be pursued.
“Today, the quality of our school buildings is altogether much better than when we started off; there has been a steady increase in expenditure…we have made great progress in this area,” the Prime Minister said.

He noted that while the Government recognises the need to grant assistance to other vulnerable groups, such as old-age pensions and other social payments, the way to overcome poverty is to make people more productive. This, he said, can only be done through education and training.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh who said that there is no more important an investment to be made than that in young people. As such, despite pressing fiscal challenges, the Government has persevered with mission-like zeal in increasing investment every year in the social sector, particularly education, which receives the largest single allocation in the National Budget.
This level of investment has enabled the country to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of universal primary education, and is well on its way to achieving universal secondary education.
Moreover, the Government, with the support of partners like the CDB, has constructed technical institutes across the country to bring technical and vocational training to more young people than ever before. The Leonora Technical Institute in Region 3 is one such facility that has benefited from CDB funding.

The Minister also said that very shortly, as a result of a special budgetary allocation made available last year, the University of Guyana will be launching online degree programmes.
“These are not investments whose returns we will see immediately, but they are investments that are absolutely critical and unavoidable if the long-term future of Guyana is to be protected and preserved…our Government’s commitment to the people of Guyana is to continue to invest in the education of the young people of our country, so that they individually can be assured of brighter prospects,” Minister Singh posited.
Guyana is currently hosting the 44th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the CDB, an opportunity Caribbean countries are afforded once every 10 years.
Minister Singh described the CDB President, Dr. William Warren-Smith, as a staunch friend of Guyana and lauded the tremendous work that the Bank has been doing throughout the length and breadth of Guyana.

“This school is only one example of the partnership between Guyana and the CDB of which we are immensely proud…Guyana looks forward to an even more rapidly growing partnership with the CDB…we see the bank playing an even greater role in human, social and economic development in Guyana,” the Finance Minister said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Smith said, “We at the CDB have made the education of our people a priority for our institution; all of the evidence suggest that in the Caribbean there is no other investment that provides enduring benefits for our people like education. It is the principal vehicle through which the cycle of generational poverty is most effectively broken.”
The facility represents a major improvement over the previous school arrangements where children of nursery school-age shared facilities with older children. It is completed with nine classrooms fully furnished with indoor and outdoor assets; including a staff room, food preparation area, parents’ waiting room, water storage facilities, open multi-purpose space with carpet for playing, administration area, sanitary blocks, and storage space.

“CDB is a firm supporter of projects that uplift our people; we like to associate our brand with projects like this one, which promises recurring benefits to the community for years to come…we are extremely pleased to be part of the regional thrust to set both our boys and our girls on the path to realising their full potential by exposing them to early childhood education,” he said.
In addition to the school, several other projects were realised through the BNTF. These include: the Diamond Housing Scheme, Beterverwagting and Ithaca nursery schools (all designed to CARICOM’s early childhood education standards), and works at the Port Mourant Market, the Diamond Housing Scheme water supply and the Lethem Hospital.
Construction of the Tuschen Nursery School commenced in September 2012.