THIS year’s National Schools Championships, set for November, is expected to be a ‘farewell’ hosting, as the organisers are preparing to drastically change the current format of the Championships to have the secondary school level competition moved to be held in March during the Easter term.
With this change, as of 2018, the Championships will see a separate hosting of the primary school level competition, which will continue to be held during the Christmas term..
However, sources say the Guyana Teachers Union is not in complete agreement with the moving of the Championships to the Easter term. When contacted yesterday GTU president Mark Lyte said that he will not be commenting on the issue at this time.

In addition to the splitting up and moving of the secondary school competition, neither of these competitions will involve a teachers’ championships segment, as is the norm.
Head of the Physical Education at the Unit of Allied Arts, Nicholas Fraser, said that the changes come as the organisers look to begin taking into consideration some of the recommendations made in a proposal submitted following the ‘Forum on the Development of the National Schools Championships in Guyana’ held at the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD) back in January, 2015.
Fraser related that organisers are trying to gradually phase the recommendations contained in the proposal. The suggestion to move the Championships was made so that it is better aligned with the ‘international calendar for sports’, Fraser said.

Nationals involves athletes from all across Guyana, grouped into 15 districts competing in athletics, cycling and swimming events, span across five days.
At a meeting held last month the Director of Sport Christopher Jones was charged with the responsibility of getting the various stakeholders together for discussions on the way forward in implementing the changes.

The National Schools Championships is organised by the Ministry of Education and Guyana Teachers Union. The Ministry of Communities also had to be notified and involved in the discussions as each district is funded by its respective regional councils.
Sources say that all stakeholders unanimously agreed to the changes, and there were no objections from the GTU side, where representatives attending the meeting included Lyte, chairman of the sports committee Seon Bristol and the secretary Coleen Liddell.