EDUCATION Minister, Priya Manickchand, yesterday paid a visit to the Diamond Primary School, East Bank Demerara, which opened its doors for the first time yesterday and will be accommodating one thousand students.
The minister said she was extremely pleased with the first day’s turnout at the school. She referred to the widely believed myth, and in some cases reality, which says the first day at school is usually the day that nothing really happens.
During yesterday’s visit, the minister received a resounding response from the students with whom she interacted as she walked into their classrooms.
After her visit, she expressed pleasure that despite her visit being a surprise one, all the classes were already into the academic programme and work was already on the chalk boards, with teachers in front of each of the classes.
The minister said similar visits were being made at schools all across the country by the various education officers in their respective districts.
Minister Manickchand said the Diamond Primary School will be given a playfield and other amenities for the convenience of children in attendance. She acknowledged that the school was still under construction, but noted that that phase would eventually pass and the finished building would be comfortable for the nation’s children attending the institution to acquire their primary education.
The minister expressed disappointment at the state of the unfinished north-eastern wing of the school, which has not yet been outfitted with windows.
She said the contractor had informed the Education Ministry that a boat bringing the windows had been delayed and was unable to make the delivery on schedule. That circumstance,
she said, has set back the operations at the school; and when things like this happen, they affect mostly the children.
She said there will have to be tougher sanctions for the contractors, and the Education Ministry is already in the process of finding a new approach to doing business with contractors hired by the Ministry of Education.
Deputy Head Teacher, Wendy Chichester, who is currently acting as head teacher in absence of her superior who is away on leave, spoke with the media yesterday in the presence of the Minister of Education. She said how pleased she was that the school would go down in history as the first to be opened by its deputy head teacher; and added that the teachers, including herself, are happy to be in a position to ensure the children are able to achieve their potential with a quality education.
She promised that teachers would strive together to make the school one of the most child-friendly schools on the East Bank of Demerara, and by extension the country. Ms. Chichester said that, up to assembly time yesterday, the school had about four hundred children who turned out for classes. She said that others have been identified to attend the school, but have to await their transfer papers from the various schools they had attended.
Apart from classrooms, the school has a library, a kitchen, and a rest room; and the deputy head invited the business community and other kind-hearted persons to make donations to the school’s library.
Following that visit to the Diamond Primary School, the minister made a stop at the Diamond Secondary School, where she interacted with the staff, and also those students, who were attending the school for the first time.
The minister encouraged students to make the best of their learning opportunity, cautioning them about the importance of taking their education seriously.
She noted that the Diamond Secondary School was built to achieve universal secondary education, and was developed to accommodate the students who did not gain passes at the then common entrance examinations, now known as the National Grade Six Assessment.
Prior to the Diamond Secondary School being built, students were accommodated in primary schools that had upper levels.
Head teacher of the school said that enrollment and first day experience was not a hassle, since the school facilitated an orientation session in which students had a chance to familiarise themselves with the environment.
She said that following the morning assembly, the students went directly to the classrooms ready to do the academic programme.
The Education Ministry last week announced that several schools were not going to reopen yesterday for classes, as critical works were not fully completed there. Those schools will be reopened next week Monday, September 10.
Source: https://guyanachronicle.com/2012/09/04/minister-manickchand-makes-surprise-visits-on-first-day-of-school