The Education Ministry on Tuesday commissioned the spanking new Arthurville Primary School on the island of Wakenaam, Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), providing a modernised learning experience for young learners.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand joined President Irfaan Ali to open the doors to the new $84M institution. 
She shared that over a long period of neglect, parents complained about their children’s safety as the previous structure was deemed unfit for proper educational sessions. A decision was taken in 2022 that the students should be educated in a safe way, and this kickstarted the project to demolish and reconstruct a new building.
“Once it is good for your children, and once we promise it, we will deliver it…We will build out a population of people that can participate fully and thrive and benefit from the bounty that is now Guyana. The one sure way of taking your children out of poverty and making your children better than you are is education,” said Manickchand.
She added that the President, through persistence for education to be prioritised and given paramount importance, is giving hope to parents and students.
“He is giving you the opportunity to make sure these children are better than all of us, the opportunity to make sure that they can live their full lives to their full potential, and become whatever it is that they want to become, and for sure, to have a life of plenty and not a life of want, to be able to participate fully all over Guyana.”
According to Manickchand, the idea is to equip people across the country with opportunities to allow them to thrive and utilise their full potential.
The Minister zeroed in, “We see educational advancements all across this country, scholarships being offered to Guyanese of every age, teachers all over this country being trained…We said we were going to make sure the children of this school were safe and educated in a safe way.”
President Irfaan Ali delivered his feature remarks, where he positioned that education is inextricably linked to the country being built out in the future.
“This school today give this generation of children a better opportunity but how do we ensure that the opportunity they get today is linked to the country we are building tomorrow? That is why the country we are building tomorrow must be critically interconnected with the education we are delivering today. That is why you’re seeing so much focus on IT, labs, reading, literacy, more analytical skills, the development of more technical capacity and capability,” said the Guyanese leader.
Arthurville Primary School was established in 1958 and for the last 70 years, the building only underwent minor renovations. The Ministry would have shut down the school to allow for the reconstruction, and students were transferred to the San Souci Primary School.
Assistant Chief Education Officer (Primary), Rabindra Singh underscored that this is another fulfilment of the Education Ministry’s mandate of creating proper spaces for children. (G12)
