THE Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Education signalled its commitment towards the continued development of cricket with the contribution of $1.5M to the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) yesterday.The cheque was presented to the secretary of the GCB, Anand Sanasie, by Minister within the Ministry of Education, Hon. Nicolette Henry at her Main Street office.
The funds are intended to be used by the GCB to purchase cricket balls for the National Secondary Schools Cricket League (NSSCL).
During the presentation Minister Henry said this initiative follows one of the Ministry of Education’s mandate to promote a wider student participation in sports. This is the first official donation to sports from the Ministry for 2017.
The GCB expressed elation and commended the efforts of the Ministry of Education and its National Sports Commission for conducting and promoting the NSSCL and dubbed the partnership a fruitful and purposeful exercise.
The GCB/MoE NSSCL has enabled the GCB coaching personnel to identify and groom young talent and where necessary, to align student-players with Association Country and/or National teams.
The NSSCL structure has been absorbing young talent while ensuring that at the school cricket level enough quality cricket is played countrywide, thereby enabling the technical staff access to measure talent, track and promote such talent along a systematic pathway of development.
Such a systematic development pathway has allowed the NSSCL structure at an early age of students’ life, to promote a culture of professionalism among and between teams and players, make them more recognised and marketable, as well as making the NSSCL a more marketable activity.
The GCB noted that the NSSCL has also encouraged and demanded higher levels of youth players’ investment and productivity, as many more students have an interest in cricket and are willing and able to dedicate more time, energy and finances on their game, which has led to higher levels of productivity.
This collaborative effort between the Education Ministry and the Guyana Cricket Board is a critical developmental initiative which continues to promote a positive impact on structure of school cricket and its participating student-players.
These efforts have made school cricket more organised, competitive, and have created a wider pool of players for the GCB to monitor and make its selection.