Hinterland scholarship students’ dormitory commissioned

Sep 05, 2010 News

One hundred and twenty (120) scholarship students will benefit immediately from the new hinterland scholarship student dormitory at Liliendaal.
Commissioned on Friday evening by President Bharrat Jagdeo, the dormitory, which costs $95.4 M, will this year accommodate some 78 females and 42 males under its roof. It includes a communal dining room, large kitchen and a library where free internet access will be available to all residents. There will also be 15 administrative staff in attendance and various support services from within the hinterland programme will be available to the facility.
According to Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai, the scholarship programme which began in 1962 has been making it possible for students of the hinterland regions to access quality education here in the capital for years now.
She spoke of the strides that her Government has made in the last decade, such as creating 100% access to primary education for hinterland students. She also noted that in that time the number of secondary schools across the hinterland have gone from two to more than ten in the same period of time. According to Sukhai, the Government has been consistently investing in the education system of the country. In 1992, she said, budgetary spending on education was $1.7B, while in 2010, the budgetary allotment was some $21.4B.
Sukhai spoke of the challenges facing hinterland students who have to make the sacrifice of coming to a strange place far away from their families and friends in order to gain the kind of education that they desire.
President Jagdeo picked up on that same note when he opened his address by pointing out that despite the Government’s push to bring certain resources to the villages and hinterland homes, certain opportunities cannot be transplanted to the villages. Among these were the possibility of gaining tertiary qualifications and attending higher secondary schools.
The President went on to note that there are still certain opportunities that are being developed for the people who live in hinterland areas. He said, “Those villages are not left out. We are enhancing food security and connecting villages to the city through improved roads.” According to President Jagdeo, over $2B has been earmarked for upgrading roads to hinterland communities.
Both the President and the Minister of Amerindian Affairs took the opportunity to laud the accomplishments of the Amerindian peoples at the ceremony. President Jagdeo mentioned Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, who he said was the first woman to hold that post, and did it just in her thirties too. Meanwhile, Sukhai spoke of the many top performers at the CSEC exams who hailed from hinterland areas – in fact the best performing student for Mabaruma, Treasure James, who is a scholarship student at President’s College, delivered the vote of thanks at the ceremony.
The President earlier in the programme lambasted those in the opposition who kicked up a fuss at the Government’s plan to allow greater access to President’s College for hinterland students. He said that the opposition was of the opinion that the inclusion of hinterland students at the President’s College would bring down the school’s performance.
The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company also took the opportunity to present Minister Sukhai with a modem for the library of the dormitory and assured her that the dormitory would have free internet access for all of the students and guardians.
The guardians, 67 in total were all cited by the Minister, the President and other presenters for the duty that they perform in taking care of the students and creating family experiences for them even though they should reside so far away from their families and homes.
Perhaps the only sour note might be the fact that the entire access road to the dormitory is yet unpaved. It was not mentioned whether the road will be paved to allow the students residing there easier access.

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Hinterland scholarship students’ dormitory commissioned

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