$23.3M nursery school commissioned in Tapakuma Village

Tapakuma Village, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) on Tuesday celebrated the commissioning of its first-ever nursery school — a modern, purpose-built facility that will replace the cramped classroom space previously shared with the primary school. The school, which cost $25,377,804, has three trained teachers, four Government 10-day workers and has 17 students enrolled.

Delivering the feature address, Education Minister Priya Manickchand said the new school marks another step towards achieving universal access to nursery education in Guyana. She explained that, historically, nursery education had not been a national priority, and it was only in the 2000s that Guyana met the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of achieving universal primary education. “We’ve always struggled with access to nursery education because of the age of the children and the distance from home to school…If a nursery school is far away, it becomes inaccessible. But in the last three and a half years even with two of those years under severe COVID-19 restrictions we have built 67 nursery schools across Guyana.” Minister said.
The new Tapakuma Lake Nursery School she said, was designed to accommodate 17 children, a number that some may consider too small for such an investment.
“Many would have considered it unworthy of a separate school, but to us, each child counts. We are at the stage where we are building schools for 17 children, and that tells you we are very close to universal access,” she stressed.
The also pointed out that the previous arrangement that is housing nursery pupils in a shared primary school classroom led to overcrowding and compromised the learning space for both groups. “Now, these children have their own building, designed to meet our standards for space, play areas, and academic needs,” she said. She also reflected on the challenges faced during the pandemic, when schools were closed and communities locked down to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“The country was unprepared, as were many others and we got vaccines months after developed countries did. Yet, despite those setbacks, we built dozens of nursery schools in remote areas whether on mountaintops, the back of a lake, in a valley, or in Georgetown,” she explained. Manickchand credited the new school to strong collaboration between the Government and local leaders. She said the project was one of the requests brought forward by Tapakuma’s Toshao at the annual National Toshaos Council Conference.
“Your Toshao came and represented you. Today, that request has been fulfilled and this building will serve hundreds of children for years to come,” she added.
She further underscored that nursery education is not compulsory in Guyana, but expanding access remains a priority to ensure that every child, regardless of location, has the opportunity to start early learning in an environment built for their development. Also attending were Regional Chairperson Vilma De Silva, the village leader, Assistant Chief Education Officer (ACEO) Devindra Persaud and other regional officials.