The Ministry of Education in collaboration with Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) commissioned the Number 77 Nursery School complex recently at Number 77 Housing Scheme, Corriverton, Berbice.
The project was completed in seven months and cost $82.3M, making it Berbice’s 57TH Nursery school and the nation’s seventh such Nursery school complex that was constructed according to the requirements of the Caribbean Community under its early childhood education stipulations. Construction was carried out by Satar Mohamed Construction, while Deen & partners Chartered Architects were the Consultants to the project.
The student population at the school stands currently at 60. The school complex is built to accommodate 120 pupils, six class teachers and one headteacher and boasts six classroom spaces, a headteacher’s office,a staffroom,open classroom and parents’ waiting area, a kitchen, sick bay,entrance court, sanitary block and utility room, corridor and circulation spaces, a guard hut and storeroom. Additionally, the complex is equipped with general fire safety equipment, general landscaping, minor timber revetment, access bridge and gate, and several disability ramps strategically located around the school campus.
Minister of Education, Ms. Priya Manickchand and a team of senior officers within the Ministry of Education were present to commission the facility. During her feature address, she said it was one of Berbice’s most beautiful nursery schools.
She underscored the importance of parental involvement in the education of children and related that the government can only do so much; the rest is left up to the parents and the home community. “Nursery education for us is extremely important,” she added. Manickchand said that it is important because it is the starting place where the 80 per cent of children the government is promising will know to read in the next five years, start their education. “We have created a whole new set of workbooks, the Roraima Readers,” she posited. Those books are specially created for Guyana, locally written, “and every child would have their own Reader and workbook, and that again is a resource costing us millions of dollars,” she said.
But the benefits and effects would be far reaching, Minister added. She reminded all about the African proverb, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ “Everybody has to play their part,” she asserted.
“It is still that (the parents) job to wake that child up in the morning; comb their hair; give them their tea and walk them to school—the government cannot come in your homes to do that for you,” she said. The parents’ job is not over. In the afternoons, parental supervision during school work in the afternoons is especially important. “Parents have a huge role in this village,” she noted.
“This school….is a state of the art school; it has the Caricom Standards…elaborate and extravagant,” she said. “It’s large and has a play area; it is colourful and bright…suitable for young children and ready for children with disability,” she posited. It also allows for good ventilation. She urged parents and teachers to truly embrace their roles at the school to ensure its conditions are maintained.
Remarks were also made by Region Six Chairman, Mr. David Armogan, Regional Education Officer, Ms. Volika Jaikishun, and BNTF’s Mr. Michael Singh, while the programme was chaired by Education Officer, Mr. Claude F. Johnson.
Also attending yesterday were, Headteacher of No. 77 Nursery, Mrs. Rita McAllister, students and teachers of the school, Advisor to the Minister, Assistant Chief Education Officer, Mrs. Melcita Bovell; Education Officer, Mrs. Bhagmattie La Cruz; Education Officer, Mrs. Bibi Ally and others. After the cutting of the ribbon, Minister Manickchand and team toured the facility.
Source: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2015/04/13/manickchand-opens-82-3m-nursery-school-at-corriverton/