–minister warns schedule will be tight when construction commences

MINISTER of Education, Priya Manickchand, pledged Friday that there will be better monitoring of construction works on new schools, during a ceremonial sod-turning event at the proposed site of the new Prospect Secondary School on the East Bank Demerara.
The new school is being constructed to replace all the “Primary Top” secondary schools on the East Bank, and when completed is expected to accommodate approximately 1000 students. It will also boast such modern facilities as a science ‘lab’, an ICT ‘lab’, a library, and studio for the performing arts. The project is being funded through a loan from the World Bank, but has not yet gone to tender.

Referring to a situation that currently obtains whereby work on the construction of a number of new schools has been woefully falling behind schedule, Minister Manickchand warned that when construction at Prospect commences, this state of affair will not be allowed to occur.
“My commitment and promise to you here today is that this school will not be like those other schools. Today, we commit to you that any civil-works project we take on, we will monitor it very, very closely. If the people who are monitoring it are unable to monitor it, they will have to make space for people who are capable of doing that; and I’m very clear about that,” the minister stated.

With only six traditional secondary schools on the East Bank corridor, a new facility was deemed necessary to accommodate those students who are currently attending the eight “Primary Top” secondary schools in the district. The construction of a new secondary school at Prospect, some five or so miles from the capital, Georgetown, is part of the Ministry of Education’s plan to achieve universal secondary education across Guyana.
Minister Manickchand noted that if the construction of the school is not properly monitored, then it will be a disservice to those students that the facility is expected to serve.

TIGHT TIMELINE
“We are going to keep a very tight timeline on the completion of this school, and as soon as you miss, we will be on your backs; not because we want to manage like autocrats, but for all the time that the school stays unbuilt, we have children in the secondary department of a primary school unable to get the quality of education that they need. And that would be a sin, and it’s criminal,” the minister said. New secondary schools are currently under construction at Good Hope, on the East Coast of Demerara, Westminster on the West Bank of Demerara, and at Yarrowkabra on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. However, the projects have been plagued with issues.
At Yarrowkabra, for instance, the ministry was forced to terminate the contract for that school, after the contractor had only completed 10 per cent of the work, and had missed several deadlines.

“We don’t yet know who is going to be the contractor, because we haven’t yet put it out for bid,” Minister Manichchand said, adding: “We don’t know who will be the consultant, but what I hope and pray is that the people who put forward themselves as having the capacity and desire to build this school will be patriots who understand what we want to do, and try their best to finish on time.” Here in Guyana, “Primary Top Schools”, as they are called, are primary schools with a secondary school department, and are used as an alternative for students who did not attain enough marks at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) to be placed at a secondary school. They also apply in cases where the existing secondary schools are full to capacity, and cannot accommodate anymore students.

Though a traditional secondary school runs from Grades Seven to Eleven, classes at “Primary Top” schools run from Grades Seven to Nine, and the students are usually transferred to a secondary school after writing the National Grade Nine Assessment (NGNA)
Approximately 750 students attend eight “Primary Top” secondary schools in the East Bank Demerara area, so when construction of the new Prospect Secondary School has been completed, those schools’ secondary department will be closed.

OVERJOYED
Regional Education Officer (REO) for Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Tiffany Harvey, could not contain her joy at seeing the initiative being put into motion, and expressed how great a benefit it will be to the students in her district. “This is a time for me to dance, because this is an achievement; a joy,” she shared.
She explained that with only six secondary schools along the East Bank Demerara, the situation has been insufficient for the number of secondary school students in the district, but while the “Primary top” is an alternative, it does not provide the students with the level of education they deserve.

She commended the project not only for the access that it will provide to the students, saying, “Our learners will now be exposed to the quality of education that we can see happening at Queen’s College. They would not have to travel to Georgetown; we will have our own QC on the East Bank.”
Also present at Friday’s sod-turning event was Chief Education Officer (CEO), Dr. Marcel Hutson, and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Alfred King.
During his presentation at the ceremony, Dr. Hutson emphasised that the construction of the school is a manifestation of the ministry’s commitment to ensuring that the nation’s children are afforded the best education possible.
“It is symbolic of the high premium paid on education by the MoE,” Dr. Hutson said, adding: “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education, and as a ministry, we are serious about protecting and nurturing this resource. So, at the ministry, we have carefully looked at all the scenarios, and came up with the idea of constructing the school in this area.”