…as a result of the 2018 education capital work programme

REGIONAL Education Officer of Region 10, Marcia Paddy, is of the opinion that the education sector is seeing progress and development and much more is expected as a result of the education 2018 works programme. In addition, she said they are implementing systems to boost the performance base of both students and teachers within the region.

With regards to capital works for Region 10, the main project is the construction of the Bamia Nursery and Primary School. The contract is currently at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board and the land is currently being cleared to commence construction. The school will cost the government $291 million and will be constructed in two phases. It will accommodate students residing in Bamia and surrounding communities on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway as well as students living in Amelia’s Ward Phases 2 and 3 areas.

The Bamia students are currently housed in a small multi-complex community centre which is very uncomfortable to both students and teachers. It will also alleviate the overcrowded situation at Amelia’s Ward Primary School. The nursery school will facilitate 149 children and the primary school will facilitate a maximum of 750 children. Currently, there are about 60 students attached to the nursery and primary schools with about 8 teachers. “Where they are right now in terms of physical activities and classroom delivery, it is very crowded because in that lower flat they have the nursery as well as the primary programme and we know that the nursery programme is separate from the primary…. so even though they have one teacher per class, they are very cramped,” Paddy had said in a previous interview. The school will also include a library, computer lab and playground, which will allow the children to have full exposure.

Another major capital work that has commenced in 2018 is the entire overhaul of the Christianburg- Wismar Secondary School (CWSS) to the tune of $229M. “Rehabilitation work has begun there, so it is the entire building that will be done over along with the facilities in the school,” Paddy related. The work is being done in phases and the children are currently attending school in a shift system to accommodate the works. Principal of CWSS, Cleveland Thomas, has been calling for the renovation of the school which was neglected for decades.

CWSS is one of the top performing schools in Linden and in 2015, for the first time, the school copped 7 of the top 10 places in Region 10 for CSEC and continues to acquire places in that top bracket. This performance was repeated in 2017. The school’s pass rate has also increased to 67%. It has also managed to extend its curriculum by adding Spanish, Economics, Theatre Arts and Physics to the list. CWSS has also been making headlines for its football team that has been repeated champions at the annual Digicel’s Schools Football Competition.

A bus was purchased to transfer the children from the Christianburg to attend the St Aidens Primary School and positive news is in the pipeline for the construction of a brand new Christianburg Primary School.

At the Department of Education, Paddy said that there is now a full complement of officers and coordinators for all the work programmes. “In terms of capacity, in terms of staff, in regards to education officers, we have a full complement of staff and so what we have noticed is that in the first three months, we would have had an increase in visits to schools and we would have surpassed our targets,” Paddy said.

A fortnightly cluster has also been implemented for headteachers who now have the opportunity of sharing best practises. Relating to headteachers at schools in Kwakwani and the Upper Berbice River, a three-day workshop was held to aid them in capacity building, completion of records and literacy and numeracy. That sub district also now has a resident officer to better manage the affairs of the schools in that area.