Facing a budget estimated at approximately $15 million to host the 50th edition of the National Schools’ Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships scheduled from November 9 – 12, the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) were yesterday extended major assistance from telecommunications giant Digicel, as the business handed over a $3.625 million cheque to the two bodies.
Expected to plug in an overall total investment of over $4 million into the meet, Digicel yesterday became the first corporate entity to jump on board and sponsor the event.
In the presence of Permanent Secretary of the MoE, Phulander Khandi, the MoE head of Physical Education Department, Nicholas Fraser, and GTU’s president, Colin Bynoe along with Digicel’s CEO, Gregory Dean, the cheque was handed over during a press conference held in the boardroom of the Ministry of Education’s Brickdam office.
Since the launching of the event earlier this year, organisers have promised that the event will be a big one and so far the ministry has obtained the assistance of a marketing and public relations company.
The public relations company is expected to market the event and has already indicated that the launching of a magazine to commemorate the event is on the cards.
Bynoe stressed that with a 50-year anniversary being such a milestone, the committee will be looking to make a breakthrough in terms of the standard of the meet and emphasized that they could only achieve this with sponsorship from the corporate community.
“Fiftieth year is a significant year and the time has come for us to ensure that the national championships evolve into something really big. We felt that the time has come for us to ensure that we have proper branding, so that we can take care of our children, our athletes.
“At the Caribbean level, CUT, they have gone even further because no longer do the athletes go for the championships and stay in schools they have gone to the level of even putting them up in the Mariott Hotel, and the way that we can achieve such is to have corporate sponsors on board. And we do hope that other corporate citizens, Giftland, Courts, Ansa McAl come on board,” Bynoe stated.
Dean expressed Digicel’s delight at coming on board the youth-centered event.
“We’re always looking to get involved in a lot of activities involving youths. It could range in anything from entertainment to sports. This year has been our first entry into the athletics field. We have already sponsored two successful events so far and there was a good response from the public with those so we thought we’d continue,” Dean said.
Khandi noted that last year’s event was budgeted at around $35 – $40 million, and it is expected that this year’s budget will be right in that vicinity as well. He also expressed the MoE’s gratitude for the assistance that Digicel has given the event.
While the ministry will not be covering all financial aspects of the event, Fraser explained that the ministry was expected to take up around $15 million of the cost, with each individual region expected to be responsible for expenses incurred to have their team present at the championships.
Fraser said that the ministry was expected to cover mainly, aspects pertaining to the officials of the event and the accommodation and meals for the athletes at the event.
“We are directly responsible to run off the championships, we have to feed the athletes; we have to clothes the athletes; get them to the national stadium from wherever they’re staying; those come directly from the Ministry of Education,” Fraser said.
However, Khandi said that the regions do sometimes find it difficult to meet their full budget and may sometimes require assistance as well to get their aspiring athletes to the venue, adding that the ministry, not wanting the athletes to be deprived, would sometimes assist.
“Some regions when they find themselves in a financial fix we try to assist, but they have national events budgets to account for and to manage, sometimes they go overboard and they overspend on certain components, so we try to help.
“It costs a lot to come especially in Region Nine, and the river areas in Regions One and Seven, and those regions in the mountains, and sometimes they do not have enough in the budget, but nevertheless do not want to deprive any athlete of the opportunity, we may have a Usain Bolt using a lot of yams somewhere in Kwakwani, who would want to come to this event to showcase his talent,” Khandi said.
The athletics and aspects of the cycling events at the championships are expected to be held at the Guyana National Stadium, while it is hoped that swimming will be conducted at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport’s 50m Olympic-size pool currently under construction in Liliendaal.
However with the sports minister’s recently promised completion deadline of mid-September looming near and no clear end to the works at the pool in sight, the organizing committee might just have to look for alternatives.
In this direction, Fraser said that while the minister’s promise of a completed pool by November is still the goal, should this fall through the committee is looking at a plan “B” of hosting the swimming segment of the championships at the Castellani Swimming Pool, which is under the authority of the Office of the President.
