PRESIDENT’S College (PC) has not lost its ‘stripes,’ Minister of Education Priya Manickchand has said, as she defended her Ministry’s position in explaining why this senior secondary school has not been listed as one of the top five 6th Form schools.

Minister Manickchand was speaking at a press briefing last Thursday at the National Center for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), located on Battery Road, Kingston, Georgetown.

Students can enter President’s College, which is located at Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara, through the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and the lower sixth form based on their performance at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).

Manickchand recalled that some 20 years ago President’s College was the top school but it is no longer functioning in that capacity.

“PC is the top school on the East Coast of Demerara,… students who achieved 491 marks and above were awarded non-residential positions at the school. And students from Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 who had these high scores were awarded residential position at PC,” Manickchand said.

She noted that PC is actually serving more persons now than before, since in the past: “When you got PC you also got a slip to go to QC (Queen’s College). At that time the school was under-utilised and very expensive to maintain because it is a residential school. We are in a different place now, because students who are getting QC are not coming to QC because there are schools in their communities that are providing the same incredible education.

“Since the Ministry (of Education) changed its policy regarding President’s College allowing entrance from regional schools, everything for this school is still in the 90’s, so a student from Region One that can’t come to QC or other schools can be placed in PC and be able to get a better secondary education,” the Education Minister explained.

Manickchand also indicated that some 203 children from across Guyana will be attending PC, since they have obtained 491 marks, and some students from the hinterland regions will also be attending the senior secondary school.

President’s College, opened in 1985, was founded by the late President of Guyana, Forbes Burnham, who launched the project in 1983 but died before the school opened. Students used to be selected from the top two percent of candidates in the Secondary School Entrance Examination (SSEE) and subjected to an evaluation process, including interviews with school personnel.
Now students are allowed transfer to PC, and preference is given to those from more remote areas. The school allows students to attend without being residential, thereby functioning as a boarding and a day school.
Written By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally