AS the Education Ministry continues to roll out the ‘Because We Care ‘cash grant initiative across the country, the distribution process took Georgetown by storm yesterday with approximately $128M being distributed. Nearly 4,564 parents of primary school students received their $10,000 vouchers at the National Park.

Parents started to assemble very early at the National Park so as to receive their grant. Yesterday saw parents from primary schools such as Stella Maris Primary, St. Margaret’s Primary, North Georgetown Primary, Winfer Gardens Primary, St. Angela’s Primary, St. Agnes Primary, David Rose for the H/capped.
Yesterday’s distribution is the largest of the eleven distribution centres set up to serve parents in the city and its immediate environs. Tents were erected with the school’s name and the grades labelled to make the delivery process smooth and expeditious, many teachers and Head Teachers took time out to attend this event to assist in the distribution.

“THE ONLY WAY WE CAN IMPROVE YOUR COMMUNITY; THE ONLY WAY WE CAN IMPROVE THIS REGION; THE ONLY WAY WE CAN MAKE OUR COUNTRY BETTER; AND THE ONLY WAY WE CAN MAKE YOUR CHILDREN’S LIVES BETTER, IS IF WE INVEST IN EDUCATING THEM.”-EDUCATION MINISTER

Some 8,315 persons were expected to have been serviced at the ten other distribution sites which included: Sophia Primary, Graham’s Hall Primary, St. Gabriel’s Primary, St. Ambrose Primary, West Ruimveldt Primary, Dolphin

Secondary, St. Pius Primary, F. E. Pollard Primary, Rama Krishna Primary, Enterprise Primary.
The Guyana Chronicle spoke with a few parents after they had collected their cash grant. A mother, who wishes to be anonymous, said that she is very grateful because she can now use this money to assist with meals and additional school items for her children. Another mother of three, Mrs Gonzales said that she is thankful for the grant and hopes that in time it increases since everything is so expensive these days.
Speaking also with a father, he noted that his children has everything for school but this grant will assist him “incase dem need anything else, you know how school is.”
Speaking briefly to parents and guardians that gathered for the distribution, Education Minister Priya Manickchand thanked the parents and guardians for taking the time to come to the National Park to uplift their cash grant. She noted that “with your presence here this morning” we know that your child or children is your priority.
She said that with this grant “we know that this is going to give you more capacity to look after your children and send them to school more frequently.”

“The only way we can improve your community; the only way we can improve this region; the only way we can make our country better; and the only way we can make your children’s lives better, is if we invest in educating them” the Education Minister said.
She however, asked parents to take note that the Ministry will now be monitoring the attendance of the children that have been given grants, to make

sure that they are attending classes regularly. “We are now considering seriously that from next year if a child or a family is going to get the grant, that child will have to have a certain attendance at school, so it means your children have to go to school frequently” she said.
Manickchand also thanked the teachers and head teachers that took time out to assist in the smooth flow of the distribution process. She also alluded that some $600M have already been cashed at Western Union and the campaign continues until November 21.
Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds in his address said that such national programmes like the ‘Because we Care’ cash grant is sigh of the Government’s commitment to our children and their education. He added that “education is the way of advancing our nation as a whole.”

Prime Minister Hinds encouraged parents to make the necessary lifestyle adjustments and sacrifices where necessary to help their children to take full advantage of the education provided to them by the government. he urged parents to take time out to spend quality time with their children, to assist with homework ‘because allocating monies to their education is only one part of the job’.

He also related that the government continues to spend a significant portion of the annual national budget on education services, supply of books, teacher training, information technology, access to education, and new programmes to provide assistance to parents to assist them get their children to school.

The Prime Minister cautioned the gathering to view the ‘Because we Care’ cash grant initiative as one that has harmonising effects. In his

response to the negative views expressed by some sections about the amount of taxes collected. The Prime Minister said: “Those who are better-off pay relatively more taxes… when we deliver services, we deliver services equally such as this one; delivering the same amount of money to every child all across the country.”
Distribution of the ‘Because we Care’ $10,000 grant vouchers will continue in Region 6 (East Berbice/Corentyne) tomorrow. Approximately $19M is expected to be distributed to parents there.

(By Rebecca Ganesh-Ally)

Source: http://guyanachronicle.com/2014/10/25/over-4500-georgetown-parents-receive-because-we-care-cash-grants-totalling-some-128m

The possibility of an increased Cash Grant next year was hinted at by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, who on Wednesday told a sizeable gathering of stakeholders in Rosignol, Berbice, Region Five “we would love to give more, and we will give more.”
The Minister’s disclosure was certainly well embraced by a wide cross-section of parents who had earlier gathered at the Rosignol Secondary School to receive the promised $10,000 Cash Grant offered by Government through the Ministry of Education to aid their children’s schooling needs.
Manickchand’s comments regarding the possible hike in the Cash Grant were forthcoming even as she responded to a number of queries from those in the gathering, ranging from “Will this continue next year?” and “will Government increase the amount next year?”
The Cash Grant distribution which commenced on a national scale two weekends ago, is being afforded to each child attending a public school at the levels of nursery, primary and secondary, and not per family. This therefore means that if a household has 10 children attending public school, the parent or guardian will be eligible to receive a total of $100,000 on behalf of their children.
While the grant is presented in the form of a voucher it is designed to be encashed at money transfer services wherever they are located. Other arrangements are made for families not situated in proximity to such facilities.
The Cash Grant which was announced earlier this year by Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, during his presentation of the National Budget is one that is aimed at helping to encourage more school attendance while at the same time seeking to help alleviate poverty.
As explained by the Minister of Finance, this programme is meant to provide more support to parents with school-aged children and increase the disposable income of parents with school-aged children with a view to raising enrolment and attendance rates.
Moreover, the Cash Grant, which is expected to see millions being distributed countrywide, had been given the title ‘Because We Care’.
Minister Manickchand, who has on occasions been accompanied by President Donald Ramotar to witness the distribution process in some Regions that have already benefited, made it clear during the Region Five distribution that her Ministry might very well offer the grant based on children’s schools’ attendance rates.
According to her, “Government can afford to give each child in the public school system $10,000 because we care about your children and because our country is doing better. We can give it because the country is being managed in a way where for the last eight years we’ve seen consecutive growth.”
She pointed out that while other countries were suffering from an economic downturn, Guyana’s economy grew, and because of that growth, which was as a direct result of prudent management of the economy, Government was able to roll out the Cash Grant programme.
Already some regions have reported that school attendance rates have considerably increased, and it is expected that this trend will continue with the continuance of the Cash Grant pay-out.
The Minister reflected on other levels of support that have been forthcoming from Government to encourage attendance rates, including the uniform programme which was initially offered to some children, but later was expanded to benefit all public school children. And then there was the school-feeding programme which started in the hinterland, and was later extended across the coast.
“We’re starting this programme with $10,000. As the country continues to grow, this $10,000 will also grow!” intimated the Minister.
Five other countries in this part of the world have similar programmes (Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, Jamaica and Brazil) but Guyana is the only country that offers cash grants to every child in the public school system.
The grants in other countries range from about US$50 to US$64 per year for some children, while Guyana has started its programme by giving each child in the public school system, the equivalent of US$50.
The distribution of vouchers at the Rosignol School was conducted in a very orderly manner since a waiting area was set up to allow parents to wait their turn while other parents were being attended to.
The Minister herself toured the entire school facility and made several other stops. She visited other distribution points at Cotton Tree Primary, Number 8 Secondary and Bath Primary School, to ensure the processes went smoothly and to thank teachers for their service.
Cash grant distributions have also been done in Regions One, Three, Four and Six, and the process is continuing countrywide.

Source: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2014/10/24/education-minister-hints-at-increased-cash-grant-next-year/

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[www.inewsguyana.com] – The Ministry of Education continued the disbursement of the Government of Guyana $10,000 cash grants in Moruca, Region 1 on Monday, October 13.

According to the Education Ministry, hundreds of parents waited patiently at Santa Rosa Secondary School to collect the much anticipated government assistance, designed to ease the burden of the average household in preparing their children for school.

Schools that benefitted from the more than $12 million given in a cluster included Santa Rosa Nursery, Santa Rosa Primary, Santa Rosa Secondary, Ko-Ko Nursery and Parakeese Nursery.

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand told the parents, “The PPP/Civic believes that education is the only sure way to improve one’s life, one’s family and one’s community. As a government the PPP/c has consistently matched this with solid investments in the education sector over the years. This initiative is yet further evidence of a government that cares for all the people of Guyana.”

The cash grant initiative was officially launched on October 11 at the Bartica Community Centre in Region 7.

Parents are reminded to look at the television or newspapers, the Ministry of Education website (www.education.gov.gy)or the Ministry of Education Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/MinistryOfEducationGuyana)and the Guyana Learning Channel to find out when and where they need to go in order to uplift their child’s ‘Because We Care’ 10,000 dollar.

Source: http://www.inewsguyana.com/over-12-million-in-cash-grants-disbursed-in-moruca/

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…President Ramotar as he launches $10,000 education grant

IF ever a nation will grow, it must think long-term and focus on education and human capital. This is really the recurring focus for the PPP/C Administration, and it goes back to 1992, when the nation vested power in this incumbent. This twin-point was explained by President Donald Ramotar, who launched the $10,000 education grant on October 11 in Bartica, where the gratitude of the recipients was quite visible – smiles, and many words of support for the PPP/C.

It should be noted that this grant is not a sporadic, knee-jerk reaction from the PPP/C. It accompanies a host of other inputs in Guyana’s school children—the uniform voucher, the school feeding programme for some areas, the Hinterland Scholarship Programme and building and refurbishing over 1,000 schools. These investments stem from provision made in Budget 2014 for some 188,406 families, at a hefty cost of a $2B.

This ongoing venture is meant to provide more support to parents with school aged, and increase their disposable income as well. The overall objective is to raise enrollment number and attendance rates. The $10,000 grant is testimony yet again to the seriousness of the Government where education and human capital are concerned.
“… education is important, not only in itself, but it underpins every other sector of our society … so this programme that we doing here, we hope that it will help you to ensure that the kids stay in school, that they study and do not come out of school until they have a secondary education, so that they can take advantage of other Government programmes like scholarships to the University of Guyana and further, so that they can lift their development and make a greater contribution to the development of our society,” the President urged.

People still remember past times when education was not a priority. In fact, the PPP/C started in 1992, with a jump of eight percent of the National Budget going to the social sector, and at that time it was a very small budget. Now, Guyana has far bigger and more expansive budgets, where more than 30 percent is dedicated to the social sector and where education gets the largest of this allocation.

The rewarding thing is that all of this hard work and monetary inputs are paying massive dividends. Locally, the traditional schools of success have to now compete for top honours with places like Anna Regina and Line Path Secondary Schools. Also, at the Regional/Caribbean level, Guyana’s dominance is well documented having copped five out of eight top Regional CSEC spots in 2013.

What must not be forgotten is the fact that Guyana is riding a high in education right alongside some major movements in the world, namely the rise in advocacy for females to be educated. In this light, it is quite fitting that the Nobel Prize for Peace was just deservedly bestowed upon a ‘still’ secondary school student, Malala Yusufzai from Pakistan. She is the young lady, who stood up against terrorism where education is concerned. She was almost killed in her homeland by terrorist sub-planters, who shot her in a bus at point blank rage.

So with success stories of Guyana’s children, there is the belief that students here can and will make significant contributions to Guyana’s development, and that of the world by extension.
The Head of State explained that if any more evidence is needed of the deep philosophical belief of the PPP/Civic Government of the importance of human resources, then the education grant is another demonstration of this idealistic underpinning of the Administration.

The Bartica occasion also brought out a most telling point from the President. He tied education, human capital and natural resources with a single string. This kind of thinking is most vital if Guyana is to move from the status of ‘developing’ to fully ‘developed’ in terms of how nations are ranked.
The President said, “If we look around the world and look at countries that have prospered and countries that have been left behind, you would find that there are countries with enormous natural resources that still have unbelievable poverty and there are others with very little resources and they are prospering. And the reason is the investment that we put in our people. And that is why from the very beginning, we have been investing heavily in our people.”

“When we got into office, only about 30 percent of children leaving primary school went into secondary schools. Most of our children had to fail at their exams, at the end of their primary education, not because they were dunces; they had to fail because there was no provision for them in secondary schools at that time.”
The achievement of universal primary education and close to achieving universal secondary education are important for the future of the country, as both levels are the foundation of the people.
“It’s as if you are building a structure – you have to put a solid foundation on the ground to hold up the infrastructure, to hold up the superstructure that you will put on this base, and primary and secondary education offer that grounding, so that our children can aim not only to remain at that level, but they can go on to tertiary education at different levels in our society; and this Government is ensuring that not only children on the coastland  will have that opportunity, but in the interior also.”

The Administration has built secondary schools in the interior areas with dormitories; and provides not only all the text books, but three meals a day so that parents will have no excuse to keep their children at home.
“Because if we speak about developing the interior of our country, which everyone says is important for the prosperity of Guyana, we have to have the human capital, we have to have the people capable of developing them and therefore these investments are important. Today you can go to the top of the mountain in Paramakatoi and find 700 students at secondary school, able to write the CXC exams, or you can go to the riverine area of Waramadong in this very region and you will find another secondary school with 700 students.”
Thus far the process of rebuilding has been great; it promises to get better. Why? The Government’s vision is that tomorrow’s success and prosperity are hinged upon Guyana’s children and their education.

Source: (GINA) http://guyanachronicle.com/2014/10/15/education-human-capital-crucial-to-national-development

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

– during celebration of International Day of Literacy 2014

THE Ministry of Education yesterday celebrated International Day of Literacy 2014 under the theme ‘The literacy revolution has begun’ with a literacy exhibition at Main Street, Georgetown.

As part of the Ministry of Education’s National Literacy Action Plan under the theme ‘Literate by Grade 4 through consistent home, school and community involvement’, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand also launched the five-year literacy strategic plan.

Speaking at the launch, Assistant Chief Education Officer, Primary, Marcel Hutson remarked that the Ministry of Education has recognised the need to have quality education and to improve literacy countrywide.

“As we celebrate International Literacy Day, our literacy launch could not have come at a better time. And I do believe that is critical in the process of life and if we do not master reading at an early age we become lost in society,” Hutson emphasised.

He highlighted the absolute importance of grade level reading being achieved or else it will create a massive barrier in the education and professional life of that student. “As a ministry we are determined that every child should be able to read at grade 4 and part of this task lies in the hands of the parents,” Hutson said.
Chief Education Officer, Mr. Olato Sam, noted that the more literate the population, the greater the output of that nation. “We should work towards this; the call today is to establish a culture that encompasses the theme ‘Literate by Grade 4 through consistent home, school and community involvement’.”
He reiterated his colleague’s position that everyone needs to get involved if Guyana is to become fully literate and to encourage persons to start giving books to children instead of other items. “Encourage them that reading is fun and also important…”
Meanwhile, in her feature address Minister Manickchand alluded to the fact that all across the world governments, NGOs, ministries and other organisations recognise that their country is not at a place they want to be where literacy is concerned and because of this they have embarked on “the literacy revolution has begun” mission.

32% READING AT GRADE LEVEL

Minister Manickchand said that the Education Ministry had conducted a literacy test on the number of students who can read at their grade level. This test was conducted from Grade One to Grade Six, and while it does not say that the students cannot read, “it simply opened our eyes that more needs to be done since only 32% of our students are reading at grade level.”
Manickchand concluded her address by urging parents to consider that their support, assistance and encouragement will be very important to their children’s education.

Yesterday’s event also saw the minister and other education officials, students and religious leaders being the first to participate in the ‘Drop everything and read’ initiative as part of the many activities to commemorate Education Month 2014.

Students also had the opportunity to visit the mini exhibition and read a book.

Source: (By Rebecca Ganesh) http://guyanachronicle.com/2014/09/08/education-ministry-unveils-five-year-literacy-strategic-plan

Shortage of furniture in classrooms is an unlikely challenge the Ministry of Education will be faced with this new school term which will commence on September 1. The Ministry of Education has been able to place additional furniture in schools.
In a press statement yesterday, the Ministry of Education said that to date, more than 90 percent of schools have already received its supply of furniture. Some schools in Regions Four and Eight are expected to be fully equipped by the end of September. In the meantime, contractors will continue the delivery of furniture.
The release said that Government, in understanding the importance of education in a country’s development, allocated approximately $300M to the construction and provision of furniture. The aim is to have every child seated comfortably in the classroom as they receive quality education.
“Well ahead of the close of school in July 2014, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand held a meeting with builders to discuss the importance of contractors meeting their contractual obligations, specifically emphasizing the importance of contractors delivering the furniture on time, and of an acceptable quality,” the Ministry said.
Manickchand had said that the most desirous outcome would be that quality furniture is delivered on time emphasizing that if these requirements are not met, the Government will apply penalties under the relevant contracts.
The contractors undertook to ensure that they meet the conditions to which they agreed under the various contracts, and expressed a deep understanding of the necessity to provide good furniture in a timely manner, the release said.

Source: http://www.education.gov.gy/web/index.php/mediacenter/item/1006-ministry-of-education-to-launch-new-website

Stakeholders of President’s College (PC) including past students and board members yesterday met with the Minister of Education to discuss concerns about the school and the minister has now indicated that she will consider the possibility of opening the school to Georgetown students.

During a round-table discussion at NCERD in Kingston, a number of issues were raised by the former students including the state of the infrastructure and the poor functioning of the board of directors.

For more than four hours, approximately 30 former students asked Minister Priya Manickchand questions about the school’s current standing and what exactly can be done to address this.

Last month, the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) results were announced and the school was noticeably missing from the ‘top schools’ list.

At yesterday’s gathering, Manickchand was questioned at length on just why the entry requirements for the school had been lowered.

Chief Education Officer (CEO) Olato Sam explained that, over the years, fewer students were deciding to accept a place at President’s College and were instead choosing other senior secondary schools or a school in their communities.

According to Sam, in some years only 49 or 55 students would enrol in the school’s first form classes when the school has a maximum capacity of 120 new students.

In response, the former students attributed the school’s low intake to a number of factors including the poor maintenance of the school’s infrastructure and the fact that Georgetown students are not offered a place at the school.

Last month, Manickchand explained that President’s College is the top school on the East Coast which allowed both residential and non-residential places. This year, students who attained 491 marks and more and who live between Cummings Lodge and Mahaica were awarded a non-residential place while residential spots were awarded to students from all regions except Region 3.

However, no spots were awarded to students from Georgetown. After having this apparent flaw pointed out, Manickchand conceded that there might be need to change this policy.

“Perhaps coming out of this meeting – if the concern is that there would be Georgetown students who would like to go to PC because of financial circumstances – what we can have coming out of this meeting is a solution that we could possibly look at opening it to our students in Georgetown if they wish to go; once they have been given one of these five national schools then they can go on a residential place,” Manickchand said.

The minister revealed that there are currently 18 staff vacancies in the school and the former students expressed their belief that this also was playing a part in the school’s degeneration.

Source: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2014/news/guyana/07/13/ministry-will-consider-opening-pc-georgetown-students-manickchand-says/

Defying the rules and regulations governing the placement of students at secondary level schools could see education officials being publicly dismissed. This candid assertion was made by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, during a verbal but constructive face-off between senior education officials and a faction of the alumni of President’s College yesterday.

Manickchand appealed for persons to prove her wrong that since she assumed the position of Education Minister two years ago she has not been privy to instances that children were placed at schools without the requisite scores. “You have to make the cut off score before you can enter a particular school…I am not very popular because people come to me and say their child lost one mark for a particular school but that doesn’t mean they are admitted to the school they request if they don’t have the score,” asserted the Education Minister.

Her response was forthcoming even as she addressed concerns leveled by the old students that the quality of students admitted at President’s College today has been deliberately lowered.
The round table forum venued at the Kingston, Georgetown, National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) saw a number of other concerns being highlighted with a view of bringing about much needed clarity with regards to daunting developments that have occurred since its doors opened in 1985.

Assertive questions were vocalised by a number of the old students in attendance, among them popular personalities the likes of Toussant Boyce, Ruel Johnson and Kwesi Isles with the latter seeking to specifically ascertain what role geography played in placement at the school.
Other issues ranging from the true status of the school and it’s changing intake to infrastructural shortcomings and limited teaching staff and even the implications of the proposed new education legislation were raised at the forum in the quest to putting intervening measures in place that would lend to restoring the former image of the school.

Speaking during the deliberation, which saw the Minister being doggedly supported by Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam, it was highlighted that some of the challenges that the school has faced in recent times cannot be divorced from what occurred under the previous administration. Manickchand also made a point of noting that the possibility exists that some of the challenges that the school has faced could not only be regional but even internal rather than external.

The secondary level school is operated by a board with financial backing from Government.
According to Minister Manickchand, while investment in the school in question was never an issue, Government’s decision to offer residential places to other students from outlying regions and non-residential places to students along the east coast was driven by the fact that those who were originally eligible did not opt to attend the school.  However, the Minister asserted that there has always been a cut off mark that students must attain in order to attend the school.

She also pointed out that some of the top secondary schools that students accept in the city have some of the similar challenges as President’s College.
The concerns regarding the placement were particularly triggered by media reports by some sections of the media, which according to the Minister, have misrepresented her deliberations on the matter.
At a press conference in early June to unveil the results of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) the Minister had revealed that although it was created to be the country’s top secondary school with residential provision more than three decades ago, today President’s College no longer boasts this status.

This she linked to the fact that the school is currently not functioning in the capacity in which it was designed since “it is not meeting the needs of our children best.” She however noted that the school remains one of the country’s senior secondary schools providing instructions that are on par with other top schools.
And although the school was not highlighted among the top secondary schools to which NGSA candidates were allotted, the Minister said that 203 children from across Guyana have been awarded a place there.
As an ‘A’ List school, Minister Manickchand explained that President’s College is the top secondary school on the East Coast of Demerara. Moreover, candidates residing between Cummings Lodge and Mahaica who attain 491 or more at the NGSA are awarded non-residential placement at President’s College.
Added to this she disclosed that candidates from the far-flung Regions of One, Two, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine and 10 who have the stipulated high scores are permitted residential placement at the school.

Moreover, the Minister said that “it is actually serving more persons and more needy persons now.”
But according to the Minister, during the forum yesterday, she is prepared to help restore the school to its former status thus the need for constructive discussion to plot the way towards this direction.
Aside from the members of the school’s alumni, the meeting yesterday also saw members of the Board of Governors and the school’s administration in attendance. The forum was also graced by Director of NCERD, Jennifer Cumberbatch; the Ministry’s Schools Board Coordinator, Melcita Bovell and Assistant Chief Education Officer, Ms Doodmattie Singh.

Source: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2014/07/13/dismissal-for-education-officials-who-allow-unauthorized-placement-of-students-manickchand/