President a no-show at commissioning of Leonora Secondary School

Nov 25, 2011 News

President Bharrat Jagdeo was a ‘no show’ at the commissioning of the $322M Leonora

The $322M Leonora Secondary School.

Secondary School yesterday after failing to make an appearance a few days earlier at the opening of the Leonora Technical and Vocational Training Centre at Groenveldt, Leonora, Region Three.
This school has the capacity to house 1,000 students.
Phulandar Kandhai, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, explained that the school officially started at the bottom house of the Leonora Hindu Mandir in 1964 and while the student population grew, it was obvious that a new location was necessary.
“Quality education couldn’t be offered in those circumstances…Now we have a population of almost 750 students and this state-of-the-art building can accommodate 1,000. As the population continues to grow we know this space will not be enough and will soon have to start thinking about expanding, like building an annex,” said Kandhai.
The project was scheduled to commence on July 24, 2010.
However, due to complications involving drainage and irrigation, works begun later and thus the school was completed four-months after the expected one-year stipulation.
Kaieteur News understands that the contract for this school’s establishment was awarded to the Kares Engineer Inc and the project cost amounted to $293.5M.
An additional $14.8M was spent on the purchasing of furniture for the new building, $9.5M went towards tools and equipment, and $4.3M for stocking the computer laboratory.
There are 23 classrooms, an Information Technology Laboratory equipped with 30 computers, two Science Laboratories, clothing and textile rooms, metal and woodworking rooms.

A section of the students, teachers and parents during the commissioning ceremony of the Leonora Secondary School.

Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh, told the gathering of teachers and students that the Ministry is keen on the development of human resources which are the students themselves which is why it is providing access to education nationwide.
“We can only transform our country, achieve both social and economic developments if our country has an educated population,” said Baksh.
He also highlighted the major achievements Guyana has recorded in the education sector both locally and internationally, specifically at the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) level.

10 thoughts on “President a no-show at commissioning of Leonora Secondary School”

bergandy November 25, 2011 at 3:47 am

Look how all dem people look sad, sad bai…. Ow Gad!!!!
Indian_Man November 25, 2011 at 5:12 am

This substantiates that Guyana is on the move under the current PPP/C. What did we get under the PNC ERA? Let me answer for the ones who are suffering from amnesia (de- lapidated schools). Today our country is blessed and continues to grow. Guyanese are once again proud to call themselves GUYANESE.
DharamSawh_38 November 25, 2011 at 8:34 am

A WORTHY PROJECT.
Guest November 25, 2011 at 10:33 am

The man ain’t get time with education,
vatvic November 25, 2011 at 10:39 am

“Jagdeo a no-show.”
O’ Thank you Lord, now please make it a daily blessing upon this nation. For ever and ever, Amen.
movingonNY November 25, 2011 at 3:31 pm

I am literally fed-up with these deception of the goverment, by constructing state-of-the-art buildings with no substance inside. Imagine this is a Technical Institute and they have only spent an equivalent of 9.5M less that 50K US dollars on tools. what an insult, tools and equipment for a proper technical institute should have at lease cost 250k-500k US dollars. I am sure that there is very little equipment in the school and as such a substandard education will be provided at this location.. This is another “white horse”, they are constructing buildings and leave them as empty as they are constructed,
I have not heard about and training of human resources to inculcate knowledge .
Look at the money spent on computer lab ,just about 23k US what can this do, to a school of 1000/750 students.
This will come to an end sooner than we think.
Fireman649 November 25, 2011 at 4:35 pm

This is the second time in the last two weeks that I know of, where he has been a no show, The first one was he and the Prime Minister has other pressing duties to attend to, maybe this time was the unavailability of enough Colgate and Listerine to wash his cuss bird mouth and knowing that children would be around he choose to stay away
RaAmen November 25, 2011 at 7:55 pm

Will this school be open to all guyanese regardless of religion or ethnicity?
brikhous November 25, 2011 at 11:12 pm

Great idea,wrong execution. For a Technical and Vocational Training Centre, the amounts spent on tools and computers is way inadequate for 700plus children. Now, where are the teachers going to come from? . What is their knowledge pool? In the olden days there were knowledgeable old guys from places like Transport and Harbours, Sprostons, the Foundary, where you could have gone to tap into a wealth of knowledge and information. I doubt that there is such a pool of knowledge today. As regards BIG RAT being absent, he has bigger problems. His days are numbered and he knows it. Not only his days as president, but also as a free man. He is busy winding-up his affairs( Theiving, Bribery, Graft,Being a bully,Lying,) the list can go on forever. But ask any accountant it takes a lot of time and effort to wind up a business,a luxury he no longer has. GOOD RIDANCE
seclusive November 26, 2011 at 6:17 pm

this is a good opportunity for a poor and depressed community to access technical and vocational education at the expense of Government…however, studies prior to completion of this project would also reveal, that youths within these communities prefer to eke a livelihood within the Market places and in farming practices. Unlike their Georgetown counterparts who thrive on crumbs but prefer to access and accommodate these facilities…