Multimillion-dollar Good Hope Secondary School commissioned

…over US$100M being spent on national skills training centre – Pres Ali

The new multi-million-dollar Good Hope Secondary School, located on the East Coast of Demerara, was officially commissioned on Wednesday.
The new facility, expected to accommodate approximately 479 students, would allow the Education Ministry to close all the primary tops along the East Coast, thus allowing students to get a proper secondary education. Those tops include those at Paradise, Enterprise and Enmore Primary schools. It will also reduce overcrowding at the Cummings Lodge, Bladen Hall, Golden Grove, and Plaisance Secondary Schools.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, Education Minister Priya Manickchand highlighted that the Ministry’s aim is to ensure every child across the country gets into a secondary school where they can acquire high-quality education.
“With the completion of Good Hope, the East Coast of Demerara has achieved secondary education. We’re going to close out the six primary tops that currently exist here, and the children are going to be able to come to a discreet secondary school,” she declared.
She also noted that every time the Government fails to open a school, it has a negative impact on children, and she expressed frustration with the delayed completion of these projects.
“Every time we fail to put down a school, two things happen: children can’t get educated at any proper quality, and children drop out. Just under 1000 children were unable to get a secondary school right here on the East Coast, and they were going to primary tops. And we said in 2014 that we wanted to close all the primary tops, and we would do that by opening Good Hope, (but) in 2018, we had to open primary tops on the East Coast of Demerara. That is poor governance; that is failing the people; that is failing the children who will grow up and take over the country,” the Minister said with frustration.
Manickchand added that the work of the Ministry doesn’t end there, as she highlighted some other secondary school projects that would move Guyana one step forward toward achieving high-quality secondary education.“And it doesn’t end here. Like the East Coast, the highway and the East Bank children suffered because there were two schools that were supposed to be built there, one at Prospect and one at Yarrowkabra; neither was started and finished.
“In about a month’s time, we’re going to be able to open the Yarrowkabra Secondary School, where we’re going to be able to house all the children now who are going to primary tops there,” the Minister remarked.
Delivering the feature address, President Dr Irfaan Ali highlighted the importance of eradicating the issue of dropouts from our school system. Further, he shared that the Government is expending over US$100 million into a technical training centre so as to meet the needs of persons who are interested in that field.
“We have to now look at where that gap is, and to see how we now can catapult our system to take the interest of students into consideration, and then stream them off to what they’re interested in. That is why, in new schools, there’s a major investment in the technical education component. And we’re building out a technical education platform throughout the country. We’re spending more than US$100 million on a national skill training centre that will train young people…in the areas that are critical for our development,” The Head of State said.
According to President Ali, the Government wants to ensure that these new facilities are used optimally, and aims to introduce night schools so people can access them.
“We are going to work with these schools to see how we can create…at least one state-of-the-art classroom that can be connected to all the global networks that we are on. [GOAL, Coursera, etc] to have these learning programmes done right here in the secondary schools in the evening when the children are not here, so we have optimal use of the facility,” the President announced.
The contract to construct the Good Hope Secondary School, worth over US$4 million, was awarded in 2018 to BK International. Work commenced in October of that year, with the original completion date being January 14, 2020. However, despite many extensions, the construction company was unable to deliver, and as such, a new contract was signed with DEEN+ Partners for over US$2.6 million in December 2022, under the Secondary Education Improvement Project, which is being funded by the World Bank.
DEEN+ Partners is expected to complete all outstanding works, which include the installation of all electrical panels and cables to complete electrical connections; installation and connection of all plumbing fittings and fixtures; completion of the fences, pavements, walkways, and landscaping; general finishes to windows, doors, roof, walls, and ceilings; completion of all built-in furniture; repainting of the entire facility, and remedial works to all floors.
The construction of educational facilities throughout the country is just one of the many initiatives being undertaken by the Government to achieve universal secondary education by 2025.