An internet hotspot and a library are among the facilities that hinterland scholarship students will be able to access at the $95.4 million dormitory which was commissioned at Lilliendaal last Friday.
The dormitory was formally opened as part of the Amerindian Heritage month celebrations. It has been designed to accommodate just over 100 students and will be continuously supported by the government.
Over the last 11 years, Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai said at the opening ceremony, more than 450 students have benefited from the scholarship programme and many others have been sent to the Guyana School of Agriculture, Guyana Technical Institute, University of Guyana and other institutions.
She further noted that the project for the dormitory was discussed and approved in parliament. The building’s design, she said, resulted from many meetings with consultants. It was agreed that the design had to allow for both a functional and efficient layout for students.
Block one of the facility, Sukhai explained, contains general utilities and block two the public and social facilities. The ground floor, she further said, also contains the administration offices, the library and auditorium. Students will also be able to access free high-speed internet access compliments of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company. The minister noted that this will make research less stressful for students.
Having the students under one roof, she further said, will make it easier to manage them and monitor their progress. It will also encourage the exchange of culture and languages. The 78 females and 42 males who are staying at dormitory speak various Amerindian dialects as well as Spanish, Portuguese and English.
These students, Sukhai said, will be offered a unique experience during the five years they will spend at the dormitory.
Over the last 11 years, 10 secondary schools have been constructed across the hinterland bringing the number to 12. The schools are located in Santa Rosa, Waramadong, Aishalton, Three Mile, Sand Creek and other locations. They provide education to hundreds of students, 96% of whom are Amerindians.
These investments are not mere handouts, Sukhai stressed, but are important steps taken towards achieving our educational goals and equipping our children with the skills they will need to face the difficulties in the future.
T James of Mabaruma, Region One was the best performing Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examination hinterland student. James, the minister said, achieved 8 grade ones with 6 distinctions and 1 grade two.
High performing students who qualify for the Hinterland Scholarship continue to achieve great things. Students who are awarded this scholarship, Sukhai said, recognize the great opportunity they’ve been given at they continue to perform throughout their academic lives.
Meanwhile, President Bharrat Jagdeo said that making the transition from home to dormitory life would be difficult but the fact that they will be living with other hinterland students going through the same thing should hopefully make the experience easier.
Dormitories, Jagdeo stressed, don’t replace the love that children get from kind-hearted people but they can make them more comfortable and definitely more successful.
Jagdeo further said that the area where the dorm is located will be the centre of massive development in the near future. He expressed satisfaction that the Liliendaal dorm was constructed at that location and not the earlier proposed space behind the Chinese embassy.
More than $2 billion has been set aside to upgrade various roads which will create a network linking them to the city, the president said. This will make movement easier, give hinterland people better access to the city and other major locations in Guyana and will increase both their opportunity of income earning and transferring goods and produce from one location to another, he explained.
However, Jagdeo pointed out that it is extremely difficult to transfer the same economic conditions which exist on the high populated coast to the hinterland regions. Enhanced education, especially tertiary and top quality secondary, are difficult things to make available in those areas. As a result the government has to bring hinterland students to where the educational facilities are available.
Jagdeo noted that a very few, who either had the contacts or the financial background, were able to give their children education. This effort cannot be allowed to go in vain, he said, and this is why it must by continued by ensuring hinterland children can access quality education.
We all want to preserve and expand our indigenous culture and languages, Jagdeo noted, but this is a task not only for the Amerindians; it is a task for all of Guyana.
The opportunity must be provided for indigenous people themselves to take up leadership positions, and government is proud and happy to do so, Jagdeo said.
An example of the quality of leadership is current Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues, he stated. The Amerindian foreign affairs minister, who was the first woman to fill that post, is in her early 30s and is most visible face of Guyana, the president pointed out. Rodrigues, he stated, is not only serving Amerindians but the entire nation.
“…Drops of one ocean; Flowers of the same garden; Leaves of one tree,” Jagdeo said quoting several lines from a song sung by primary level students from Region Eight at the opening ceremony. This, he said, sends the message of unity, something he has continuously advocated.
