$63M Hindu School commissioned

Aug 17, 2009 News

The education sector on the West Coast of Demerara progressed further yesterday when a spanking-new secondary school was commissioned at Corneila Ida, West Coast Demerara.
The Saraswati Vidya Niketan, which is a Hindu faith-based school has been under construction for the past six years.

Junior Education Minister, Dr. Desiree Fox (right) and Dr. Yesu Persaud along with other invitees at the commissioning of the school.

Swami Aksharamanda, who is responsible for the establishment of the facility, told Kaieteur News yesterday that construction of the school has been ongoing for the past six years, but the school is now ready for full utilisation.
The construction of the school cost some $63 million and according to Swami Aksharamanda, all of the money was gathered from public donations, both locally and overseas.
The new school offers all CXC subjects, along with Hindu teachings. Currently, approximately 200 children are attending the school and according to Aksharamanda, the facility has the capacity to take in another 100 more students.
Additionally, Aksharamanda raised enough funds to construction a new wing at the school.
This new wing includes a Science laboratory, a computer lab, a library and class rooms.
The school has a total of 18 teachers, of which more than half of them are graduates, while the others are retired.

The newly constructed school.

According to Swami Aksharamanda, the school pays the fees for the younger teachers to attend the University of Guyana, so that they too can be qualified in their field of work.
Meanwhile, local business tycoon, Dr. Yesu Persaud, praised the good work of Swami Aksharamanda, as he noted that Swami was responsible for raising the funds for the construction of the school.
“This here is important especially for a number of underprivileged kids who are encouraged to come to the school. If they can’t find the funds, the Swami tries to get scholarships for them,” Dr. Persaud said.
He added that education is the basis for everything as it leads to success.
“We have a huge responsibility to the community to ensure that education is spreaded as widely as possible.”