AFTER fire destroyed a wing of L’Aventure Secondary School at Canal Number One Polder, West Bank Demerara in September last year, Government set about its rebuilding, and yesterday, the new wing which was constructed to the tune of $37.4M was commissioned by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand.
Following the early morning fire, the 700 students were being housed at Mr. Komal Singh’s property in order to continue their studies as the new wing was being constructed.
L’Aventure School was formally a primary top and under the Education Ministry’s Secondary School Reform Project (SSRP), was transformed into a secondary school.
Minister Manickchand said that the growth of the school is testimony to the enormous success in the education sector over the past two decades.
“This story is a very concise story that paints the picture to the rest of Guyana of where we are in education. Do we have things to be done? Do we have improvements we can make? I will stand here and say ‘yes’ we do,” Minister Manickchand declared.
She reiterated that while a lot more needs to be done in the education sector, there are significant improvements; in fact as it relates to physical infrastructure and placement of secondary age students, the country is less than four years away from achieving universal secondary education, which means that every child throughout the length and breadth of Guyana will have access to a secondary school.
While the infrastructure and other resources are being put in place, the Education Ministry is currently working on improving the quality of education delivered to the students. Minister Manickchand emphasised that there is need for greater collaboration in this regard, and urged parents to “get on this train for quality education.”
“…it is easy to speak about the challenges …our education officers have to do more, our teachers have to do more, our parents have to do more. If you look at attendance it is not what we want it to be…we can build the schools, but if the children are not attending it wouldn’t make sense,” Minister Manickchand stressed.
She said that process has already started, and one of the major steps is introducing monitoring and evaluation over the next five years, that is, evaluating how well the programmes and policies that are being implemented are working and the percentage results coming out of these programmes.
Further, English and Mathematics in the school system will also be improved. Minister Manickchand announced that every trained Mathematics teacher across the country will undergo extensive and sustainable training over the next couple of years. There will also be a pilot programme which will be implemented at eight schools, aimed at introducing to students the use of technology and will see every Grade Seven child receiving an electronic device, a tablet.
Meanwhile, Minister Manickchand presented a plaque to Singh for his service to the children, and extended gratitude to him for offering to house the 700 displaced students immediately after the fire last year.
She urged the parents and teachers to collaborate with the ministry, and the students to work hard to ensure better results at Caribbean Examination Council (CXC).
Regional Chairman, Julius Faerber also expressed gratitude to Singh for accommodating the students, and urged the students and teachers to care the facility. Faeber said that this new wing will see the students being taught in a more comfortable environment, and he anticipates that the students will perform better academically.
He expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Education and the Government of Guyana for making this facility possible so that the children can continue with their educational drive. (GINA)
Source: http://guyanachronicle.com/2014/09/24/new-37-4m-laventure-secondary-school-wing-commissioned