‘Multi’ razed

A FIRE OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN SATURDAY DESTROYED MAJOR SECTIONS of
North Ruimveldt Multilateral School.
A Ministry of Education press release revealed the Home Economics Department; The
Information Technology (IT) Laboratory; the Science Laboratories and several classrooms were
destroyed in the fire.
The release advised that education officials will meet shortly to design a plan that will ensure the
students enrolled to write this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) tests
offered by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) are not affected negatively.
The school has an enrollment of 512 students with 65 scheduled to write the CSEC exams this
year. It has also 39 teachers.

“Parents, students and teachers of the school will be updated on the decided measures within the
next 48 hours,” the Ministry of Education statement advised.
It said the ministry will provide support to the students, teachers and other categories of staff of
‘Multi’ as the school is popularly known since its construction in the 1970s.
Education Minister, Ms. Priya Manickchand and Home Affairs Minister, Mr. Robeson Benn,
were among the crowd witnessing firemen wage a heroic struggle to contain the blaze
The school which was constructed in the 1970s during the Forbes Burnham era when he
aggressively promoted the ‘multilateral’ model of learning. Several noted Guyana, Caribbean,
Commonwealth and world-class athletes emerged from that institution.

Retired pugilist, Michael Benjamin, comes to mind.
‘Multi’ also excelled in the performing arts with its steel orchestra winning multiple Mashramani
trophies over the years.
Reports are that the fire started around 1.30pm with the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) responding
quickly to news of the blaze.
Eventually they brought the fire under control.