–sets aside funds to do it

FOR years, past students and commentators have bemoaned the state of the facilities at President’s College, once a prestigious secondary school founded by former President Forbes Burnham.

The school was once self-sufficient and even had its own farm for which it was famous for more than two decades ago. The farm reached a rundown state in recent years. But things are expected to change at the Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara secondary institution soon, as in 2019 the government will be ploughing monies into the school’s farm.

One of the capital projects, which appear under the government’s Rural Agricultural Infrastructure Development programmes in Budget 2019, is the resuscitation of the school’s dairy farm and funding has also been set aside for the construction of a processing facility at the college.
The entire infrastructure development programme has been budgeted at a sum of $350M, with a fraction of the figure to go towards the school’s dairy project.
According to the 2019 Budget Estimates, the benefits of the dairy farm and processing facility project include improved access to agricultural infrastructure and farmlands. It also includes increased agricultural productivity.

“I would love for these and other programmes to come back on stream and make `PC’ what it once was,” a former student of the school told the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday, one day after the 2019 National Budget was presented in the National Assembly by Finance Minister Winston Jordan.
She said that similar projects can make the school the example it was built to be, when its doors were opened in 1985. “It will do great for self-sustainability if managed properly,” another former student and current member of the Alumni Association noted.

On September 11, 2015, `PC’, as it is called by current and former students alike, celebrated its 30th anniversary under the theme, “Quality achievements through sustained holistic education”.

MAJOR CHALLENGES
That year, Alyne-Ann Downes, a former student who was teaching at President’s College at the time, said that the school has undergone some major challenges, with its standards dropping drastically over time. Downes, who delivered the feature presentation during the Forbes Burnham Foundation General Members Meeting in October 2015 at the Critchlow Labour College, said that `PC’ had changed “dramatically”.

“I don’t think it is because the foundation wasn’t set properly,” she said. “I think it is because persons no longer hold the school in the highest esteem, and they allowed things to just go.”
She said the decision by the former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government, through the school’s board, to change the structure of the school created a number of loopholes within the system, which developed into major challenges.

Downes said the school was designed to be self-sufficient, with the establishment of certain programmes and projects, such as the setting up of a school farm.
“President’s College was supposed to be self-sufficient. But today, what are we providing for ourselves? Our farm is of no standard; it is just there,” she said.

“I remember, as a student, our rice fields were there, and we could have walked along the corridors and see paddy when it was harvesting time. But now the fields are there, and persons from the villages come and loose their animals.”

In 2017, when the school celebrated its 32nd anniversary, President David Granger paid a visit and promised the government’s support, especially in subject areas such as the sciences and technology, to ensure that the school maintains a high standard.

As he toured the institution, President Granger listened to the concerns of students and staff, and took note of their needs. He said at the time, that discipline and value of education was one of the key messages students of the school should keep in mind.
Carlyn Canterbury, the school’s principal, noted at the time that when the school opened its doors on September 11, 1985, its mission was to provide a place of learning, with the highest management of knowledge. That hasn’t changed, she said. Neither has its vision.