Priya Manickchand (seated centre) takes a photo with the teachers of the Westminster Secondary School and Regional Education Officer, Mr. Devindra Persaud (seated second from right)
WESTMINSTER SECONDARY SCHOOL FINALLY OPENED IT DOORS this week for
the 1,000 students and 60 teachers it was built to accommodate in Parfaite Harmonie, Essequibo
Islands/West Demerara (Region Three).
Education Minister, Priya Manickchand visited the school and interacted with students and
teachers on their first day in the state-of-the-art structure.
“I am very, very glad. The school is well poised to deliver top students in this region and
therefore children who will be well-rounded to take over Guyana,” minister Manickchand told
her audience.
Devindra Persaud, Headteacher, Ms. Tulsidai Raghubansi and Deputy Headteacher Ms.
Ms. Lisa Henry-Aaron
“We hope that we have in you the best because the kids who are coming here are children whose
lives you can change. Your purpose is to change the lives of children and their families,
transform children who entered with certain biases but leave without those biases and have a
quality life,” she said, referring to staff members.
Some students previously attended Dolphin Secondary (Georgetown) and Covent Garden
Secondary (East Bank of Demerara) among other schools located some distance from their
homes. With the availability of the new secondary school in Region Three, the ‘Primary Tops’
(secondary departments) of Goed Fortuin, La Grange and the Windsor Forest Primary schools
are permanently closed.
Primary Tops accommodated National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) students who could not
be placed in any of the secondary schools in their regions.
Westminster Secondary has 11 departments to course students in Allied Arts, Agricultural
Science, Business Studies, English, Home Economics, Industrial Technology, Information
Technology, Mathematics, Modern Languages, Science, and Social Studies.
Manickchand assured all 11 disciplines are equipped with trained teachers to help ensure the
curriculum is properly delivered.
The school has secured a permanent Welfare Officer, in Mr. Azharuddin Zahaur.
Its motto is “Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow”.
Additional to the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) programme offered by the
Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), the school will also offer the Caribbean Vocational
Qualification (CVQ) programme recognised across the Caribbean. It is a competency-based
approach to training, assessment, and certification.
Minister Manickchand said the school has a Conference Room, Reading and Research Center,
Library and laboratories for Language, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and
Agricultural Science. In addition, the school has 32 classrooms, a dance studio, an
Audio/Visual, Music Room and a large auditorium.
Within the next three years, the school would be offering subjects for the Caribbean Advanced
Proficiency Examination (CAPE) for Region Three students. Its first head is Ms. Tulsidai
Raghubansi, with Ms. Lisa Henry-Aaron as her Deputy.
They are supported by a staff of 15 senior teachers and 34 junior educators.
The support staff were trained to use different online strategies such as Google Classrooms,
Google Meet, and Google Teams to deliver online classes to their charges.
They were also trained exposed to electronic management information systems (EMIS),
Microsoft Excel and Google drive which will enhance the delivery of education and the
completion of records at the new institution, Minister Manickchand said.
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