$231M Jawalla Secondary School to advance education delivery in hinterland

The community of Jawalla in Region 7 (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) is set to benefit from the construction of a new secondary school, which will be outfitted with the necessary facilities and equipped to advance the level of education being accessed in the area and its surroundings.
The sod was turned for the $231 million project on Wednesday, which has a 9-month deadline. Upon completion, that school will house approximately 250 students.
The contract for works was awarded to Sheriff Construction Inc. following a rigorous and competitive bidding process, as outlined in the Public Procurement Act.
The new Jawalla Secondary School will be equipped with facilities including Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Information Technology laboratories, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) laboratories, a Home Economics room, library space, teachers’ quarters, spacious classrooms, and a small dormitory.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand during the sod-turning exercise stated that the project aligns with the broader educational goals of the region, promoting academic excellence and holistic development.

On this point, she disclosed that the facility will help to ease the overcrowding at the DC Caesar Fox Secondary School in Waramadong, given that students in other communities, including Quebanang, Kako, Imbaimadai, Kambaru, Ominike, Abbou, and Eladupai will be transferred to the school.
These students are currently either not receiving a secondary education or are being educated in primary tops, a secondary department in a primary school.
“While we have this very simple ceremony it’s a huge investment in you, a huge investment in your children and you’re going to start seeing in five, six, ten years how children from right here will come back as doctors, accountants, and lawyers… As you can see, we’re training teachers right from the village… this is the first time in the history of Guyana, we have as many teachers training. We used to be able to train about 535 teachers per year. We’re now training just under 2000 teachers per year. Many of them are coming from hinterland communities.”
The Minister further explained that these initiatives are being taken to ensure that teachers and students can thrive regardless of where they are in the country, and it is with this in mind that the Government increased efforts to improve both the physical and technological systems in schools across Guyana.
“President Ali has made it very clear that the bounty that Guyana is seeing now, the resources that we have in the country will be used for every single person, not concentrated in any given region and not concentrated in Georgetown. So, right now we have a massive build-out of secondary schools happening all across the country,” she added.
The Jawalla Secondary School is just one of several new hinterland secondary schools the Ministry of Education plans to construct this year since the Government set 2025 as the target to achieve Universal Secondary Education (USE).
To support this effort, the Education Ministry was allocated $74.4 billion through the National Budget, a portion of which will be used for the construction, rehabilitation, extension, and maintenance of educational facilities nationwide.