2 years after destruction by fire: St George’s secondary reopens as Guyana’s 1st School of Sciences

Some two years after it was destroyed by fire, the St George’s Secondary School was on Monday reopened as a first-of-its-kind School of Sciences in Guyana.
At the grand opening of the school, Education Minister Priya Manickchand while delivering remarks, emphasised that the new institution was developed with the clear intent of being a prestigious facility.

In fact, the Minister explained that the students attending the new school should have scored at least 80 per cent in English, 65 per cent in science and 60 per cent in Mathematics to be eligible for the school.
“We have a brand-new school that could hold approximately 300 children, we are only putting in 80 students…we had a choice where we could of bring in second formers and third formers and I made a hard decision, at a time when we needed space for high schoolers and I said no because they already have their ways and they have already learnt stuff in those schools and they might infect my first formers so we are going to begin as we intend to go on.”
In addition to keeping the standards of the high school, she pointed out that students’ literacy skills must be on par in order to attend the school – highlighting that the Education Ministry has various plans for the students and English must be required.
“We can’t do what we want to do with your children if they can’t read and write which is why they had to have 80 per cent in English”
Topping it off, the Minister revealed that each student will be walking home with a brand new laptop.

“This thing with when you sit down and you watch the blackboard and you write out all these notes and you carry it home and your parents or guardian don’t read it, we don’t want that anymore.
“Every child in this school is going to be given a device today, a computer device…It is not a handout. It is because I want them to learn differently, I don’t want them to sit down whole half day and copy notes. I want the notes to be sent out to their device so they can read it the night before.” She posited while being greeted with a resounding round of applause from all the parents.

Moreover, the minister said there are a set of specific rules that must be enforced and followed for students to continue learning there.
For instance, she said once a child is late or absent their parents will immediately get a notification.
Manickchand also said each child must be exposed to at least one musical instrument, a sport, one foreign language and one TVET subject along with volunteering opportunities.
Meanwhile, the education minister expressed hope that this newly opened school with its vast array of modernity will produce doctors and various medical practitioners.
In July 2022, the former St. George’s High School was destroyed by fire that was electrical in nature.
The school was rebuilt to the tune of $253.8 million.
The new school, however, is called the St. George’s School of Sciences and will be “twinned” with Queen’s College, one of Guyana’s top secondary schools.
Already, some 85 students have been enrolled.
In 2022, the fire had also left 512 students and 39 teachers displaced, while 65 students of that 512 were scheduled to write the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination.
Even as that devastating fire struck the school just nine days before the 2021 examinations, the Education Ministry had put in place systems to ensure that the students had the opportunity to write the exams in the school’s auditorium. (G2)