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Guyana makes History at CSEC Golf -114 Learners take PE Golf
The Ministry of Education Allied Arts Unit, Guyana Golf Federation and Nexgen Golf Academy combined forces during the pandemic and History was made this year as 114 learners from President’s College, Anna Regina Multilateral, Rosignol, Friendship, and Wisburg Secondary schools elected to take golf as their PE elective.
President of the GGF Aleem Hussain with students of Rosignol school.
Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary, having placed second in the National Golf School competition in 2021, held true to their promise to become the number one golf school in the country as ARMS led the nation in CSEC golf with 51 students opting for golf with Rosignol Secondary second with 38.
According to Rosignol’s PE teacher Kevon Jawahir, “The entire class wanted to do golf and we traveled several times to the Nexgen Golf Academy to practice. All my students were hooked on the game after the first session with Mr. Hussain.” Golf has traditionally not been a popular sport amongst the general public because it was viewed as an ‘elite’ sport with high fees and the need to join a private club to play. This all changed when Aleem Hussain, president of the GGF and Nexgen Golf Academy, at the urging of Assistant Director of Sport Melissa Dow-Richardson in 2020, created a programme in conjunction with the MOE Allied Arts Unit to allow access to the sport by anyone who had an interest.
The programme, which came at a welcome time when virtually all sports were shut down due to covid-19, was quickly adopted by Ms. Barker-King, head of the MOE Allied Arts Unit and became one of the fastest growing sports with Secondary schools in all but three regions now active in teaching golf to its 11th and 12th grade learners.
The model public/private partnership saw Nexgen Golf Academy providing training, equipment and facilities and the MOE providing PE Teachers and resources for the ‘Train the Trainer’ programme which allowed the sport to reach into 102 secondary schools in just 15 months.
Aleem Hussain with students of Friendship school.
“It’s a great relationship that draws on the strength of each other, the equipment and knowledge provided by Mr. Hussain and the Human Resources to develop the sport provided by The Ministry of Education,” said Ms. Barker-King, head of the Allied Arts Unit. “We expect that golf will be introduced to our primary school learners in July and expanded to Grades 7-12 in the Secondary schools.”
Once these plans are realized, it would place golf as one of the most involved sports with over 35,000 learners having access to the sport and the demand for golf friendly playgrounds across the country will increase drastically.
The Guyana government, through the efforts of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has demonstrated its commitment to development of Sports in the country and plans are in place for inclusion of a golf course in the Silica City project.
However, with the rapidly increasing popularity of the game amongst locals and expats, it would be expected that many more golf course communities will have to be built to accommodate the demand.
Hussain explained, “The scaled version of a golf course that I designed on West Coast is a model that can be used to fulfill the need since it only utilizes 10 acres of land, reduces maintenance and membership costs and can be located closer to populated areas. This is the next step that must be taken around the country as we build towards a national and Olympic team.”
For more information on how you can learn the game or sharpen your skills, contact the Nexgen Golf Academy via Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp 645-0944 or visit them at the Scouts Association Ground on Woolford Avenue.
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