After one year’s delay: new hinterland students’ dormitory commissioned

In the new academic year, tertiary hinterland students will be given a chance to take up residence at a newly commissioned dormitory at Liliendaal on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD).

The building was commissioned on Monday by caretaker President, David Granger and is pegged at just over $186 million. The new facility can accommodate up to 120 students from the hinterland region along with housekeeping staffers, administrative employees and custodians.
Permanent Secretary of the Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Ministry, Alfred King explained that the building was constructed by BK Construction Incorporated but there were delays ever since the initial deadline of September 2018.
“We had some challenges and we had some extension from 1st September 2018 going to December of 2018 and that still didn’t materialise. We were able to close formally on the 3rd March 2019,” King said.
Going forward, an e-library hub will be installed to deliver information technology services to students. During the defects liability period, structural changes will be made to some aspects of the building.
Meanwhile, Junior Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs caretaker Minister, Valerie Garrido Lowe stated that many students would have had challenges in obtaining living accommodations to study on the coastland. It is the expectation that such gaps will be bridged.
Meanwhile, Granger, who was at the commissioning, stated that this points to an upward growth in Guyana’s education system to create productive citizens. According to him, opportunities should be equally available for hinterland and coastal individuals.
Granger stated that apart from academic opportunities, other services should be equally dispersed.
“We want to create a more equal society. We want to ensure that hinterland residents can enjoy similar public services – birth, business and death registration; public education; public health; public information; public infrastructure; public telecommunication; public security and social security – as citizens on the coastland,” Granger added.
There are persons from over 200 hinterland communities who are stymied by geographical location to obtain tertiary education among other challenges.
For the new academic year, persons will be able to stay at the new facility until their studies are completed. This includes students currently attending the University of Guyana (UG); the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE); the Government Technical Institute (GTI); the Guyana School of Agriculture; Carnegie School of Home Economics; the ER Burrowes School of Art and the Guyana Industrial Training Centre (GITC).