President Donald Ramotar said now is an exciting time in Guyana to be a young student as he celebrated the success of 64 graduating students at the 2014 convocation ceremony of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) School on the West Coast Demerara on Sunday evening.
In his address at the school’s 10th convocation ceremony, Principal, Swami Aksharananda said land has been acquired to build an elementary (primary) school to accommodate at the least 200 students. Efforts in this endeavour aim to realise SVN’s vision and values by inculcating them in children at an early age, he said, according to a report from the Government Info-rmation Agency (GINA).
Swami Aksharananda also revealed that SVN’s ambition is to have the first private STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) College in Guyana that focuses solely on providing education in STEM subjects. Once a student (either at the elementary or secondary level) is found to have an aptitude for these subjects, the aim is to immediately move them over to the college, he explained. He then lauded the school’s supporters for their contributions toward a science centre and heaped praise on the teachers for their endeavours, including having secured over 300,000 units of blood for its blood donation drive. At the same time, he urged parents to ensure that their children realise their fullest potential.
This year, SVN’s Best Graduating student, Winner of the Award for CSEC and valedictorian is Walicia Deokinana. Deokinana obtained 18 CSEC subjects; 13 distinctions, 2 grade ones, 2 grade twos and 1 Grade Three. The Second Best Graduating Student and winner of the Prime Minister’s Award of Excellence was Liloutie Punu, who obtained 17 CSEC subjects; 12 grade ones and 5 grade twos. At SVN’s first attempt at CAPE, student Rafeena Mustapha obtained five subjects. She was also judged the Best Graduating Student in this regard and was honoured with Principal’s Award of Excellence.
According to GINA, in addition to its academic success the school also celebrated other outstanding performances and contributions including the blood donation drive held in May. A new feature added to its agenda, the Masters of Education will be included in the programme for future convocation ceremonies to recognise persons who contributed to the development of private education in Guyana. The 2014 award was presented to Julius B Nathoo, the former principal of the Saraswat High School.
Meanwhile, in his address at the gathering the president said almost 80% of the nation’s children now have access to secondary education as government continues to work to provide universal access. Since the PPP government assumed office, more than 1000 schools have been built or renovated particularly in far-flung areas, in keeping with the ideals espoused by late president Cheddi Jagan, he said. “And that is vital in our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural country that we have, and it goes to the very root of our philosophy, which was imbued in us by Comrade Cheddi Jagan, whose ideals continue to be our living guide,” he said.
In addition to making education universally available in Guyana, focus is also being given to ensuring equal opportunity for all. “The more qualified people we have, the more we are assured of their quality contribution to the development of Guyana or wherever life will take them,” he said. The president also noted that over the past five years efforts put into enhancing the quality of education has included an increase in the number of trained teachers, from 55 per cent to 75 per cent now, with the aim of ensuring that all teachers are trained.
According to Ramotar, government has been focusing on creating jobs for its new qualified workforce. “We have brought our country from being described as a heavily poor indebted country to now being described as middle income country, but I am convinced that we have the people and I have every confidence in you that we can take our country in a short period of time to acquire the status of developed country,” he said. These efforts must be complemented by new infrastructure such as a larger airport and hydro-electric power. “The infrastructure that we repaired and put in place is not sufficient to take us to the level that we want to go, and to allow you to put into practice the knowledge that you have acquired here and the knowledge that you would go on to acquire,” he said.
Ramotar also encouraged the students to pursue studies in the sciences and new technology. “I have every faith in you, the young people that you will be able to master the new tools; science and technology and you will be on the cutting edge and leading the
forces of change in our country,” he said.
Dr Suresh Narine, Senior Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy and Chemistry, Trent University, Canada, delivered the charge to the graduands, according to GINA.
