Six years after the Ministry of Education received funding from the World Bank for the Guyana Secondary Education Improvement Project (GSEIP), none of the schools under this project has been completed.
This was revealed by Minister of Education Priya Manickchand during a sod-turning ceremony on Friday for the Prospect Secondary School – a school that would be built under the GSEIP.
In 2014, the MOE sought and received US $10 million for the GSEIP. Under this project, the Good Hope, West Minister, and Yarrowkabra Secondary Schools were catered for in addition to this school that will be built at Prospect.
Manickchand blames what she described as the lack of progress on these projects, on to poor leadership that was at the helm of the Ministry during those years.
She noted that none of the schools are completed, thus affecting some 3000 students who should have been placed in those schools.
Nevertheless, she assured the parents and students at the sod-turning that the PPP/C Government is committed to ensuring that the construction of the Prospect Secondary School will not suffer from “lacklustre management.”
The Minister hopes that the entities that will bid to be awarded the contract to construct the school are dedicated and understand the school’s importance to the 1000 students it will accommodate.
Uttering a warning to contractors, Minister Manickchand said that if the company awarded the contract to build the school is not honouring its contractual obligations, they would be removed to make way for another company that can manage the project.
The state of the art secondary school will serve to provide access to quality education at the secondary level for students living along with the East Bank of Demerara corridor.