Smart classrooms now at Brickdam and East Ruimveldt Secondary Schools

The Ministry of Education today commissioned smart classrooms at the Brickdam Secondary School and the East Ruimveldt Secondary School in Georgetown.

The commissioning of the smart classrooms in these schools forms part of the Ministry of Education’s drive to modernize the education sector.

The smart classrooms are equipped with items such as an interactive board, a television that allows teachers and students to connect remotely and motion and voice-activated cameras complete with a face recognition feature.

Some of the equipment installed in the smart classroom at the East Ruimveldt Secondary School

Systems Development Coordinator within the Ministry of Education, Mr. Godfrey Munroe explained that the interactive board will allow the virtual student to be able to interact with the class that is being facilitated at the time and view all the content that is being shared.

He said that the smart classrooms will provide for the infusion of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for all subject areas. He said that the facilities will have a multiplier effect as they will allow for expert teachers to reach and engage with other students from other schools and vice versa.

The smart classrooms will benefit the 368 students currently enrolled at the Brickdam Secondary School and the 506 students at the East Ruimveldt Secondary School.

At today’s commissioning exercises, the Honourable Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said that she was very pleased to be commissioning the classrooms especially in this COVID period where information and teaching can flow from one to many using the equipment installed.

She said, “this is opening doors for us to occasion the equality and equity that we recognize is needed across the sector about which various parties have spoken.”

The Honourable Minister of Education Priya Manickchand delivering remarks inside of the smart classroom of the Brickdam Secondary School

The Education Minister promised that the effective usage of the classrooms will not be left up to the schools alone but will be part of a managed program to make sure the classrooms are being used effectively to benefit the students at the respective schools but also those students at other schools which do not have such classrooms.

Minister Manickchand added, “imagine what we can do here. We could get experienced teachers delivering content to thousands of students at the same time. This will help us to expand the reach of our human resources for the benefit of all our students regardless of where they are located.”

The Honourable Minister of Education Priya Manickchand delivering remarks inside of the smart classroom of the Brickdam Secondary School

Headteacher Ms. Cathryn Fraser of the East Ruimveldt Secondary School said that the smart classroom is a very a good move and shows the government’s commitment to education. Headteacher of the Brickdam Secondary School Ms. Shandrina Welcome-Lee echoed similar sentiments.

In February of this year, a smart classroom was also commissioned at Queen’s College which was the second such facility in the public education system. That commissioning had sparked a response from former Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes that smart classrooms were already installed in several secondary schools across Guyana including the Brickdam Secondary and East Ruimveldt Secondary which are only today getting smart classrooms. However, this was easily and quickly debunked by the Minister of Education and by independent investigations by several media houses. Minister Manickchand gave the assurance today that the Government of Guyana and the Ministry of Education will continue to establish more smart classrooms and have them commissioned in the coming weeks.

Students of the Brickdam Secondary School enjoying a lesson on the topic Matrices inside of their smart classroom