Being a passionate educator, Dunita Butchey doesn’t mind commuting from her hometown of New Amsterdam to Section ‘A’ Cotton Tree Village, West Coast Berbice, for school.

She is head of the private school, Professional Teaching Academy and she took over the institution when the owner migrated after establishing the school back in 2008.

Butchey told the Pepperpot Magazine that the school started as a secondary school but later extended its services to offer primary and computer education.

“We have a lot of students but since the pandemic some haven’t been attending classes at all so our attendance fluctuates and only those who show up are counted in the register,” she said.

The teacher reported that she hasn’t seen or heard from some students in the secondary level for more than a year, and she tried to reach out to them to find out why they were not in attendance even after the school re-opened under strict COVID-19 guidelines.

She stated that they have all the protocols in place such as hand washing, a sink is in place with soap, wearing face masks in class is a must, social distancing is also in effect, and the desks and tables have been placed apart.

Butchey disclosed that the school offers secondary level education from Form one to five and all attendees are fully prepared for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams.

The Professional Teaching Academy has a total of five qualified teachers and they are on a rotation basis due to the pandemic. They do not have all the students and pupils present at the same time but have different schedules for classes.

Butchey reported that they offer all business, science, computer classes for both children and adults and they have students/pupils coming from various villages.

The NDC Works Chairman
The Cotton Tree/Rosignol Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) Works Chairman is Samuel (only name) better known as ‘Ping”, who is 74 years old and has lived all his life in Section ‘A’ Cotton Tree Village, West Coast Berbice.

He explained that some streets in the village are walkways, made up of concrete, while some one-vehicle streets need upgrading.

“Some streets haven’t been repaired since 2014 and we are trying to allocate money to have it done with our resources because as you can see, some are in a bad state,” he said.

Samuel pointed out that the village is a place with a lot of back alleys and some people do what they can to upkeep the surroundings but there is a garbage problem there, dumping indiscriminately.

“And what is most worrying is they are dumping refuse in the main drainage canal in the village and it is serious,’ he said.

As part of his duties he would oversee many projects and they have at the NDC level been doing things to improve the community by building two connecting bridges linking parts of the village to another, for easy access.

As an elder in the village, he is well-known and well-liked among his peers and he is also tasked with household chores since his wife passed away in January this year.

The father of one reported that he comes from a family that rears sheep, goats and cows and he has a garden of cash crops.

Samuel stated that the NDC recently cleaned and de-weeded the Cotton Tree Cemetery and they are expected to do a similar exercise at D’Edward Cemetery.

He disclosed that the NDC undertake a road project in the village where crush and run was used to paved potholed roads and streets.

Samuel reported that only the critical roads and streets were upgraded and the others will be done eventually since they are awaiting the budget.