THE remote community of Orealla is a thriving village which has produced students, who have excelled at the national level.

This disclosure was made by Head Teacher of the of Orealla Primary and Secondary Schools, Diane Lewis, who is a resident.

She told the Pepperpot Magazine that so far, academically, their students have performed well at the national exams, especially, in the Grade Six and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examinations where they attained good results.

Lewis added that with some form of assistance they can do much better to enhance the stay of students at the school adding that there is also a need for computers in the secondary department.

She manages 14 teachers with 93 pupils of the Primary School but noted that since their secondary department is not a full-fledged one they are not recognised as a secondary school, as such, they do not benefit from some things.

“We have adequate teaching supplies for the primary students but more is needed for the secondary students to boost our resources,” she said.

Lewis explained that the primary school building also houses the secondary department where they carry out the secondary programme which is up to Fifth Form.
She related that they prepare students to write CSEC exams but they do not have a centre in Orealla for the students to sit the exam so they have to go to Corriverton for that to take place.

Lewis told the Pepperpot Magazine that for this year, they had their first batch of pupils, who did their School Based-Assessments (SBAs) and for that, they are happy that the Ministry of Education granted permission for them.

However, if the students wish to further their education they would have to go out of the village to be enrolled in tertiary institutions of their choice.

Although the school has an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) hub the Wi-Fi only works when the electricity is on from 17:30 hrs to 22:30hrs.

“I only left this village when I went to Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE), Turkeyen and after my graduation, I returned to Orealla. Before I went to CPCE I taught for three years at this same school and in 2015 I was appointed head teacher,” Lewis said.
The headteacher disclosed that her life in Orealla is good and she belongs to that place where her life is one of peace and quiet.

The mother of three stated that her daughter is a qualified teacher at the school as well and she completed training at CPCE last year and one of her sons, was a teacher at the very school.

School canteen
Samantha Singh, also a resident of Orealla operates the canteen at Orealla Primary School and have been at the job for the past five years.

Singh told the Pepperpot Magazine that she lives up the hill and makes affordable snacks for the children.

“I made bara, potato bakes, potato wedges, chicken foot and drink mixture for the children so they can have something during the recess periods and it is just $20 per bag of any snack,” she said.

The mother of two stated that she was born and raised in the community and does not know any other life than living in Orealla where she is comfortable and life is easy.
“I born and grow here and I would die here because I do not like ‘out there’ where there is so much going on, like crimes, so I prefer this peaceful life here. I done accustomed to here and we do many things here to make a living and there is no need to venture out of our village. We don’t have to spend a lot of many for transportation here because we walk to wherever we have to go and we do farming too,” Singh said.
Siparuta, the satellite village

Laurence Vanderburg, who was once a teacher at Orealla Primary School left the noble teaching profession earlier this year to realise his potential of ‘working with his hands’.

He told the Pepperpot Magazine that he is in the process of renovation the privately-owned school in Siparuta.

Vanderburg explained that the school is run by the Gospel Ministry International (GMI), an organisation that has four such schools in Guyana but a lot more around the world.

“Right now we are preparing the building for the school opening in September and we want everything to be ready so I am a volunteer,” he said.

Vanderburg admitted that he likes teaching but his real passion is volunteer work and fixing things because he has the talent of building, construction and fixing engines etc.

“I have freedom, I can do the things I want to, I like to do manual work, with my hands, I meet people and that helps to build my character and become a better person,” Vanderburg said.

At 21 years old this young man can fix just about any machine, vehicle or build anything from scratch although he has no formal training.