Written by Clifford Stanley
TEACHERS with over thirty years of service in schools in Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) were among dozens of persons honoured by the Administration during its three-hour-long annual awards ceremony for top performers in the education sector within the region on Friday.

Others honoured included teachers with 100% attendance during the last school year, teachers about to retire, and top performing students at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and National Grade Six Assessment levels.

Organized by the Region Five Department of Education and staged in the compound of the Regional Administration at Fort Wellington, West Coast Berbice, this event culminated activities of the Region Five Department of Education in observance of Education Month 2013, and saw attendance of special invitees, including Education Minister Ms Priya Manickchand.

Delivering the feature address to a large audience, which included awardees, Minister Manickchand congratulated the recipients for undertaking the hard work which led to their being recognized and honoured.
She reminded that education was not a task that could be carried out by any one individual or group of individuals, but had to be the work of a partnership comprising a Government with the political will, committed and dedicated teachers, fully involved parents, and disciplined pupils and students.

She stressed that Government has invested, and continues to invest, heavily in the education sector to make sure that the children can become the best they can be, so that their services as teachers, lawyers, doctors and farmers are available to the nation in the not-too-distant future.

She alluded to the fact that the region now has two ‘A List’ schools, which are specially provided for in terms of trained graduate teachers, text books, laboratory equipment, and all the necessary facilities for a higher grade of delivery.

“Parents in Region 5 will no longer have to send their children to schools in Regions 4 and Region 6 to get higher quality of education facilities. The facilities will soon be available in Region 5. Region 5 is now poised to take (its) place in the national honours roll,” the minister said.

She congratulated the region for the splendour of its awards ceremony, saying she had not seen any such ceremony in any other region to match the quality of the event held yesterday.

She also expressed hope that the awards ceremony would encourage other teachers to emulate those who had been recognized this year.
Twenty-one teachers received long serving awards. Other awardees were the top ten performers in the CSEC examinations for 2013, the top ten performers at the National Grade Six Assessment examinations, teachers about to retire, and teachers who achieved 100% attendance during the last school year.

A number of teachers and students also received awards for being winners of a Teachers Debating Competition, the Region 5 Spelling Bee Competition, the Information Technology Quiz, the Recipe Competition, and a poster painting exercise, among other extracurricular activities.

Other persons who spoke at this occasion were Mr. Owen Pollard, Regional Education Officer (REdO) of Region 5, and Regional Chairman Bindrabahn Bisnauth. Both officials congratulated the awardees, and asserted that Region Five was making great strides in education and will soon take its place among the top performing regions in the education sector countrywide. (END)