Essequibo Alliance successfully completes first term of programme to reduce child labour in Essequibo and provide rounded education to children

Dear Editor,

The Essequibo Alliance, which is an NGO in partnership with Educare and Partners of America has successfully completed the first term of their School Attendance Programme (SAP) at the CV Nunes Primary School, Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast.

The Essequibo Alliance was established in 2003 under the Friendly Societies Act of Guyana. The programme is in two phases, the first phase involves providing a hot lunch for students every day for one year. In the second phase remedial classes are provided for hundreds of students based on their attendance. These are supplied by the school in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.

President of the organization, Mr Naithram, said that the objective of the programme was to reduce child labour which is very prevalent on the Essequibo Coast and in the society at large, and at the same time provide each child with a rounded education. The organization has a functioning library which is situated at Cotton Field where all the educational facilities are located. More than forty families with children attending the Lima Sands Primary School also benefited from being outfitted with school uniforms for the last school term.

The Essequibo Alliance and Partners of America over the years have donated in excess of 10,000 pieces of clothing to several poor communities in the region which included Lima Sands, Richmond, Charity New Housing Scheme, Onderneeming New Housing Scheme, etc.

These articles were obtained from its sister organization in New York,USA. In 2008 the organization will expand the library with computers for students to conduct their research.

The Executive Committee members Messrs S Seecharran, Basant Mohan, Basant Lall and others would like to thank all those individuals and companies who made contributions to the organization in 2007, and look foward to their continued support in the coming years.

Yours faithfully,

S. Seecharran

Vice President

SAP Programme