STUDENTS of the President’s College will now be exposed to advanced learning, as the Ministry of Education commissioned a smart classroom at the school on Thursday.
With the commissioning of this facility, President’s College is now one of eight public schools with a smart classroom.
Delivering her remarks during a ceremonial commissioning ceremony at the school, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said that the opening of this smart classroom is the realisation of a promise she had made to the school to create such a facility. “We promised you that we would put in this school a smart classroom with all the modern gadgets that was [sic] needed. When we promise something, we deliver it. For me it’s important to know that about the people who promised to serve you,” Minister Manickchand stated.
She noted that it is important that the government does everything in its power to give students the necessary platforms to thrive and be the best they can be. The smart classrooms are equipped with an interactive, computerised, touchscreen smartboard, two cameras that can be used to video the lesson and a monitor connected to the cameras.

The commissioning of the smart classroom comes days after the minister commissioned two similar classrooms in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), at the New Amsterdam Secondary School and Skeldon Line Path Secondary. So far, smart classrooms have also been established at the Leonora Secondary School, Queen’s College, Brickdam Secondary School, East Ruimveldt Secondary School, and the North Ruimveldt Secondary School. Minister Manickchand said that those facilities create an avenue for interactive, remote teaching, which would connect experienced teachers with disadvantaged students who are in separate locations. The minister shared examples, such as the New Amsterdam Secondary School where there is no physics teacher. With the smart classroom, it bridges the gap and affords students the opportunity to be taught the subject remotely. Minister Manickchand also spoke about an ongoing programme at the Ministry of Education, which allows a number of teachers on the coastland to administer lessons to 12 schools in the hinterland, virtually.
“The smart classroom here is going to make a huge difference not only to the students of President’s College, but to students outside of the school as well. You have to understand the scope that these things allow.

It’s not only the smartboard, it’s cameras, it’s the ability to see students at home and to interact,” Manickchand reasoned. The minister said that the ministry will be continuously monitoring the classrooms to ensure that they are being utilised and are producing results. “We are not going to leave it up to schools to roll this out how they want to. We are rolling out a whole ICT smart classroom usage to look at how these smart classrooms can reinforce, enhance and reach students who need that reinforcement,” she noted. Acting Principal of the President’s College, Samantha Success, and other staff of the school, thanked Minister Manickchand for including the school in the “smart classroom rollout.” “We feel great and we feel a sense of belonging at President’s College that such could be happening at President’s College. As a former student of President’s College, I am overwhelmed, the students are overwhelmed, and honourable minister, words cannot say how much we appreciate this effort not only of having the smart room, but having your presence. It is my pride it is our pride it is our joy,” Success said. A demonstration of how the smartboard works was done by a teacher of the school.