The Ministry of Education, yesterday, commissioned North Ruimveldt Secondary School (NRSS) as an A- List School and also launched its first Interactive smart classroom.According to the Education Ministry, there are five National or Senior Secondary Schools in Guyana and now they have added North Ruimveldt Secondary School to that list. There are also Junior Secondary schools in the school system located in all the administrative Regions of Guyana. Schools in Guyana are categorized as List A to List D, based on the performance of that school at the
Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony held in the Sylvester Hall, Education Minister Priya Manickchand explained that she is very proud of the performance of North Ruimveldt Secondary School, and it is the only school in Guyana that has worked from a B- List school to A-list one. This is evident in the results at the CSEC examinations and it is only possible through the hard work of the teachers, parents and students.
She reiterated that the Education sector receives the bulk of the national budgetary allocations and this is the reason for the ministry being able to make so many investments into the children’s education. She noted too that the Ministry can now boast that 90% of our children that are of secondary school age can access secondary education. “Within the last five years, the ministry has constructed eight new secondary schools, giving more children the opportunity to access an education,” she explained.
She also re-emphasised that, in 1995, the country had a dropout rate of 11% of the 35,000 students of secondary age. “In 2014 our dropout rate is 2% of the 67,000 students of secondary age; we have been able to almost double the numbers of children attending school and have still been able to reduce the dropout rate”, she said.
According to the Minister, the staff comprises 37 out of the requirement of 38 teachers and the school is also currently offering 24 subjects, and, as an A-List school, it will now be offering an additional 4 subjects. These are Mechanical Engineering, Physical Education and Sport, and Physical and Visual Arts.
She urged all the stakeholders involved to pay attention to the school because, “I am saying to you now, if you are not careful, you will see how the things you have worked for could slide back because progress, whether it’s in a school or a country, is easy to reverse if you don’t have strong leadership that understand what needs to be done.”
Also echoing the Minister’s words and urging the persons involved to continue with the commitment shown to the students and teachers of the school was Chief Education Officer Olato Sam. He said,“A successful school is one which is constantly improving”, as he noted that this school has over the years been able to re-classify itself, moving from a D List school to a B List school and now to an A List School.
Sam paid tribute to former headmistress Dianne Peters, explaining that if it was not for the vision, hard work and determination of this individual, the school would not have achieved this honour. He urged other teachers and heads of schools “to take a page out of Ms Peters’ book” and move their schools forward.
Relating to the persons gathered, former headmistress Dianne Peters, explained that when she decided to take up the challenge at the school, she embraced the school improvement plan that was set out. “I came here and went through the results and the staff information and got to work… I decided that within the next five years this school will see an improvement”, she said. And indeed that was what happened, when in 2011, five years after Peters took up the post, it was awarded the most improved school. She stressed that for this to be a reality all stakeholders had to work together.
Source: https://guyanachronicle.com/2015/02/27/north-ruimveldt-secondary-now-an-a-list-school