$566.9M wing at North Ruimveldt Secondary commissioned

Aug 19, 2025 News

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…as President announces synthetic track, football stadium for Georgetown

 

Kaieteur News – President Irfaan Ali on Monday announced that Georgetown will get its first ever Synthetic Track and Football Stadium, which will be built next door to the North Ruimveldt Secondary School.

The Head-of-State made the announcement while delivering the feature address at the commissioning ceremony for the new $566.9 million teaching block at the North Ruimveldt Secondary School.

“When Priya [Manickchand] was planning this ceremony today, she made it known to me that there are some important opportunities that exist for the community and for the schools surrounding here. When you look at this development mode, you have North Ruimveldt, East Ruimveldt, you have South Ruimveldt, you have Tucville Secondary and Lodge Secondary,” he said.

With these schools having a combined student population of approximately 4,000, the President said they are looking at ways to ensure transformational and life changing opportunities for those children and the community.

“Because, as I said, the student is a reflection of the community, and we have to bring the community along with the development, it has to be integrated. So, what am I talking about? Right in the vicinity of this school, there is a piece of land and we want to optimally deploy that land for all of these schools I spoke about, and also the community, and deploy it not by a simple investment, but by a meaningful investment of international quality and standard,” he explained.

According to the President with that plot of land, they have made the decision to invest “in a 300-metre athletic track” which will be the first of its kind in Georgetown. “And the center of that track will have a full FIFA certified football pitch, as the one at Leonora and we will have investment for basketball, volleyball and tennis at the back of the facility,” he announced.

Now committing to making these investments, the President noted he needs all the schools in the area to commit to forming an integrated alliance among the head teachers and the physical education teachers.

“I’m going to further commit that we are going to place coaches within that alliance to help your children and help the community and through the Men on Mission programme, I want us, also the men here to commit that we will give a total of 60 voluntary hours combined to this facility, every month, for mentoring our young people, for motivating them. So, this alliance, starting with the schools, must then involve the community, find those men who will come on board on the men Initiative programme to doing the initial phase, at least 60 hours of mentoring every single month for our children and our community,” he declared.

During his remarks, the President also committed to building a school system that leaves no child behind and that they have balanced academic excellence with practical skills, which prepares them to contribute meaningfully to society. “A great future lies ahead for our children, a future filled with opportunities, prosperity, and dignity. It is a future where every young person regardless of where they come from can dream boldly and achieve fully. But for that future to be real, we must ensure that our education system equips them with the knowledge, skills and values they need to thrive, every classroom, every school and every teacher plays a vital role in shaping that future. Giving our children the tools to innovate, to solve problems and to seize the opportunities that await them,” he said in his remarks.

Meanwhile, speaking about the school, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand recalled it was a devastating time when fire destroyed the main part of the school, noting the country was still in the COVID-19 pandemic period.

“That was a horrible, horrible day for us, because right before our eyes with masks when we haven’t even yet gone back into schools fully because of COVID, here is a school being destroyed and I was asked on the spot by the press, what we would do and I said we will rebuild the school that’s the only thing that we would do and so we are here with a rebuilt school, and it’s going to be even better than it was before,” the minister related.

North Ruimveldt Secondary which is set to celebrate its 50^th anniversary in September, the minister informed that this was the first school in Guyana back in 2015 to have a smart classroom and that in 2024; the school was listed as an A-list school.

She also mentioned that at this year’s CXC results, the school has recorded an 85.96% pass rate. Commending the head teacher and teachers of the school, the Education Minister noted that the improved performance not only at this school but at other schools is as a result of the “conscious investment” of President Ali administration. According to the minister, not only are schools on coastland getting the resources and trained teachers but those in the far-flung hinterland villages as well.

In her brief remarks, headteacher of North Ruimveldt Secondary, Rasulan Khan extended gratitude to the government for committing to rebuilding the new teaching block. She noted, “This school is a representation of the Ministry of Education’s unwavering commitment to ensuring that every child has a safe, comfortable and well-equipped teaching learning environment, and the Ministry of Education’s commitment to fostering equitable education for all our children.”

She added that the school has some 53 teachers along with two guidance and counselling officers. There are currently 415 students and is expected to accommodate a further 156 in September. Kaieteur News had reported that in August 2022, the ministry had turned the sod alongside contractor Kares Engineering Inc. to rebuild the new block which was burnt in June 2021. The project was supervised by Marcel Gaskin Associates. The new modernised structure is a three-storey building fitted with science labs, IT Labs, new and remodeled smart classrooms, library, Industrial Arts room and staff rooms just to name a few.

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• Football Stadium, North Ruimveldt Secondary, Priya Manickchand, Synthetic Track

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