Greenlight Guyana Educational Inc. (GGE Inc.), a New York-based Humanitarian Group last Wednesday held annual awards ceremonies to honour National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) students and prepare them for their transition from Primary to Secondary School.
The events were held at schools in the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara (Region Three). The first was at Nismes Primary School which catered jointly for students of Nismes and Bagotville Primary and later in the day, at La Retraite Primary School.

The Awards Ceremony
The awards programme, an annual feature, is organised by New York-based Guyanese, Salome Osborne who is Founder-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Greenlight Guyana Educational Inc. Since the launch of the foundation in 2006, Osborne has been travelling to Guyana each year to distribute educational resources to the children and to meet with them, their parents and teachers, with a view to charting the way forward. This time around, partnering with GGE Inc. was the Leader of another New-York-based Not for Profit,“Community Uprising Youth Club”, Ryan Jaccob and Allan Robertson who donated a special gift to the top performer.

For this year, six candidates were awarded places at West Demerara Secondary, the leading secondary school in Region Three.

Three were drawn from Nismes Primary; two from LaRetraite Primary and one from Bagotville Primary. The 2018 Greenlight Guyana Nismes Primary top student is Pamela Duff; the La Retraite Primary School top student is Darshanie Mahaise and the Bagotville Primary School top student is Blossom Bobb.

Meanwhile, the other three students gaining places at the West Demerara Secondary School are: Richlyn Fraser and Angelina Persaud – both from Nismes and Keba Evelyn from La Retraite.

The highlight of the programme was the distribution of cash incentives to the top performers and offering of congratulations and words of advice, encouragement and wise counsel to the students by the donors and education officials, including heads and other teachers.

Throughout the programme, there was a mood of appreciation and great excitement resonating across the auditorium, as awardees, amidst resounding applause, proudly made their way to the platform to receive their awards.

But on the other side, it was also an emotional moment, since the forum was one that sought to recognise and honour the achievements of children who are not necessarily national high-fliers, and whose names would not appear in the limelight. It was an occasion to make them feel good about themselves and not give up, but prepare them for the challenges ahead, essentially to be guarded and stoutly resist peer pressure.

Based on merit, Greenlight Guyana recognises the candidates as children who would have performed creditably in the face numerous known challenges they faced while preparing for the examinations. In words, it was virtually like: “Accentuating the positive; eliminating the negative” and not merely telling them to reach for the stars, but showing them how to get there.

I WILL BE THE BEST ME!

Osborne, with a huge heart of love and incredible mentorship potential, has a close affinity for children and a desire to see them succeed academically and otherwise. With the help of other kind-hearted donors, she has been making significant donations to meet the educational needs of these children by way of counselling, mentoring and making generous donations of books. Above all, her repeated admonition to them is to “Stay in School!” and to “Read, Read, Read!”

During last Wednesday’s ceremony, the students were charged to “apply themselves diligently and with determination,” in whatever they set themselves to, using as their success mantra, “I will be the best me!”

AUGMENTING EDUCATIONAL SUPPLIES
Greenlight Guyana Educational Inc. supports the educational, health and human service needs of less fortunate children, ages five to 12 years old, with a great emphasis on education. Ever since the founding of the organisation, each year Osborne has been making annual humanitarian trips to Guyana , distributing backpacks, custom-made uniforms, shoes, books and other school supplies to every child at all three schools.

Of recent, the issuing of cash incentives based on performance has been introduced, which effectively removes the tendency towards complacency, whilst ushering in a spirit of competitiveness and determination to succeed.