President Irfaan Ali and Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, today commissioned the reconstructed North Ruimveldt Secondary school. A portion of the school was destroyed by fire almost four years ago.

The school has been rebuilt at a cost of more than $500 million.

At the time of the fire, the school had an enrollment of 512 students and 39 teachers.

During the Commissioning ceremony today, President Irfaan Ali stated that hundreds of schools have been built or rehabilitate in the country over the past five years as the Government seeks to make education more accessible for all students.

“But building schools is just the first step, a school is only as strong as the teacher who stand in the classroom, that is why we are focusing equally on the upgrading of our teachers, the upgrading of our technological support, investments in textbooks and libraries and ensuring that we invest in the community support to promote learning, “the President said. 

The President promised to deploy more technology related subjects in every school to aid in learning.

In addition, he said every school must set aside half day on Fridays for physical and civic education. He also announced plans for a community based programme, where community leaders will aid in the development of students, the end goal he said is to ensure a well- rounded student upon completion of secondary school.

“Our goal is for every student not only to finish school but complete their full course of study and leave with the qualifications required to pursue their life interest and when I say qualification required, this include technical skills and technical capabilities. Therefore, vocational training is important in this equation, to allow a seamless transition of our children to the workforce,” the President stated.

Meanwhile, Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, described the school as better than it was. She said the North Ruimvledt school became the first school with a smart classroom in 2015 after becoming a grade “A” school and has set the foundation for the technological shift in schools.

“And so we are here with a re-built school and it is going to be even better than it was before. So we turned the sod in August 2022 to reconstruct this and it finished last year, this school has a history, it will be celebrating 50 years in a few short weeks, and this is the first school in Guyana that we put a smart classroom in,” the Minister recalled.

The President also announced plans today to construct a synthetic track along with other sport facilities at the site of the school.

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