THE Guyana Defence Force (GDF), in fulfilling its mission of contributing to national development, recently partnered with St. Stanislaus College to make it possible for the school’s final year Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) students to go on an educational tour to the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development. Following a request for assistance by the students’ biology teacher, Deokie Lakhan, the GDF provided transportation for the group of 11 students and three teachers who participated in the tour from March 23-26.

According to Lakhan, the tour was organised in order to ensure that the students gained valuable practical exposure in keeping with the needs of the CAPE curriculum.

“My students will be writing their final examinations shortly. As part of their biology curriculum, they are expected to gain a thorough understanding of concepts and practices in conservation and ecology. This means that the students must learn about the conservation and ecological issues in relation to flora and fauna in the context of how these occur in the canopy and at the ground levels of a forest system.
“They must gain an understanding of how the birds, plants and animal life is organised and occurs in the natural habitat, and also about how this can be impacted by human developments and interactions as national development takes place,” she said.

The biology teacher said that they chose to visit Iwokrama since there is no similar facility in the city which will provide the same level of exposure and facilitate the students’ learning.

“We approached the Guyana Defence Force for its support and the organisation responded positively. As a result, transportation was not something to worry about,” she added.

 Lakhan, the project’s leader, is a graduate senior mistress in the school’s Science Department.