The Ministry of Education (MoE) has received a donation of COVID-19 personal protective equipment for distribution to schools across the country.
The MoE in a release yesterday announced that 80,719 face shields, 24,190 KN95 masks, 126,500 disposable masks, 2,600 surgical gowns and over 6,240 face goggles were among the items donated by Sewa International Guyana.
Sewa International is a Hindu faith-based, humanitarian, nonprofit service organisation founded in 2003, Sewa International is part of a larger movement that started in India in 1989 and is active in twenty countries.
Senior representative of Sewa International, Yashpaul Seownarine, handed over the items to the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Alfred King at the Book Distribution Unit, Evans & Lyng Streets, Charlestown, Georgetown.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, King expressed gratitude for the timely donation. He stated that the items will complement the efforts the Ministry is making to ensure students, teachers and other staff are safe as schools reopen.
“We want to make sure that all schools are given enough protective gears so that the learners, teachers and cleaners can be protected while they deliver education.”
According to the release, the distribution of the items will start in hinterland schools before being moved to the coast and Georgetown.
“Most of our schools in and around Georgetown and in other regions, we’ve already given some amount of protective gears. So, this will complement what is needed in the school system, at least for maybe the long-term replacing what is already here in the system, but we would have already provided a whole lot and this will help, ensuring we can place replacements.”
