PRESIDENT David Granger has announced that the annual subvention to the Critchlow Labour College (CLC) will be restored, giving effect to a Motion that was passed in the 10th Parliament.The President said his Government will revise relevant labour legislation to support all legally constituted and functioning trade unions to enable them to better represent the needs of workers.
“Your Government will introduce measures to promote social cohesion and protect vulnerable groups. We shall work towards healing the rifts between social groups in the country. We shall re-establish cordial relationships with civil society, religious organisations and trade unions. We have the responsibility to restore the integrity and viability of working peoples and non-governmental organisations which have been gravely undermined,” President Granger said in his address to the 11th Parliament on Wednesday.
The CLC was established in 1967as the education arm of the trade union movement and was named after the late father of the local trade union movement, Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow.
The College provides pre-university courses in industrial relations, business, sociology and a Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate programme for school- leavers who need to obtain those qualifications.
There were plans to introduce associate degrees, but these had to be halted because of funding issues.
Incidentally, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, who was Principal of the CLC at the time, was forced to resign after the PPP/C administration withdrew the annual subvention.
Dr Roopnaraine, who is now the Minister of Education, recently told the Guyana Chronicle that President’s College will also be restored to its former glory.
The school, which was founded by then President Forbes Burnham, was opened in 1985, but unfortunately the President died before it was opened.
It was intended to be an elite school, with the top two per cent of pupils who sat the Secondary School Entrance Examination (SSEE), the name of the Grade Six examinations back then, being awarded a place there.
Today, this criterion is no longer enforced. President’s College now has a different focus, allowing entry to pupils from far-flung communities who did well at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).
These students reside at the college but non-resident students, particularly those in the catchment area of Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara, who meet the requirement, also attend the top school.
Though the school remains one of the top schools on the East Coast of Demerara, its standards have rapidly deteriorated and is now a far cry from the true purpose behind its establishment.
“I like the design of President’s College; some will say that it was for the glorification of the President. The President himself benefited from a real good education and he understood the importance of quality education. I would like to see President’s College return as a top school in Guyana. It will be returned to the inspiring institution it was, guaranteeing the children the best, the best that the country can offer,” the minister had said, pointing out that “I will be very happy to do it.”

By Tajeram Mohabir