– President Ali announces new Land Surveying Institute
– Scholarships for surveying to be made available
– US$30,000 in equipment donated by UN agriculture agency

PRESIDENT, Dr. Irfaan Ali, on Wednesday, announced government’s intention to establish a land surveying institute and to make scholarships available to land surveyors to encourage a push for higher education among those professionals.

The Head of State made this announcement during the swearing-in ceremony of five young men who became the newest batch of land surveyors in the country.
The newly sworn in land surveyors are Elijah Persaud, Royston Washington, Tedwin Roache, Marc Nicholson, and Terron Roberts.

While delivering the feature address during the ceremony, President Ali said the government’s vision is to create a land surveying institute that will provide services for Guyana and the region.
The country must be in a position within the next three years, he said, to possess such a skill base to be able to offer these services to the Region.

In order to get to that stage, Dr. Ali noted that changes must be made to the current academic programme to strengthen same.
It was then that he suggested that the Ministry of Health will be working along with the relevant organisations to develop manuals to be used as part of the course for future candidates.

“Before we embark on the examination of students in the future, there are three things that I want to suggest that must be put in place from the next programme.
“We must have the Ministry of Education working with you on the development of three manuals, specifically for your industry. A manual on mathematics, manual on writing skills – language, and a manual on geography or national landscape,” the President said.

Additionally, he mentioned that as it relates to the academic progression for land surveyors in the country, the government will examine opportunities that can possibly see a number of scholarships within the field being made available.

President Ali explained to the new land surveyors that as the country progresses, there is an opportunity available just 25 minutes from Georgetown to build a new city that will be above sea level.
All of the new development, he said, requires a different scale of operation which will see many opportunities being made available for those in the field.

During the ceremony, it was noted that a total of 31 persons wrote the examination to be surveyors in late 2021. Five candidates were successful.
Meanwhile, Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, Enrique Monize, for his part, highlighted the need for land surveyors especially as the country is experiencing significant growth in many sectors.

Monize said there has been a tremendous increase in the number of development projects as he noted that land surveyors are usually the first persons on the land before projects are officially carried out.

It was then that he noted that based on the original register, which dates back to 1892, the addition of five new surveyors will bring the total number to 603 sworn land surveyors since that time.
Currently, he revealed that there are 75 surveyors currently listed at the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, of which he estimated approximately 40 are truly active.

Monize noted that this is so because of the lack of study options in the field which led many persons to move on to other professions.
As such, the possibility of scholarship opportunities for future land surveyors will be a timely initiative for those within the field.

It was noted that the Government Technical Institute (GTI) is the official institution in the country that has a specific land surveying programme.
After the ceremony, a donation of equipment was made to the institute. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations handed over equipment to bolster the institute’s Land Surveyors programme to the tune of US$30,000.