Hundreds of students along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway are expected to benefit from improved learning conditions after a new $177 million wing was officially commissioned at Yarrowkabra Primary School on Tuesday.
The facility, commissioned by Education Minister Sonia Parag, has eight classrooms and a dedicated Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) room. It will accommodate about 200 students from Grades Four to Six and has been in use since March.
Regional Education Officer Keane Adams said the expansion became necessary after enrolment outgrew the school’s capacity. The school was originally designed for about 250 students but now serves more than 400 from Yarrowkabra and surrounding communities.
Addressing parents, teachers and students at the ceremony, Parag described the new wing as more than additional infrastructure, calling it an investment in the future of the nation’s children.
“Building a wing in a school is ensuring that we continue in the path of progress; it is ensuring that our children are taken care of,” she said.
Parag said access to educational opportunities is as important as the opportunities themselves. “You can have opportunity, but if you don’t have access to that opportunity, it’s a wasted opportunity,” she told attendees, adding that reduced overcrowding would create a more conducive environment for teaching and learning.
The minister pointed to oil revenues as a key source of funding for school construction and education programmes, and said Guyana is on track to achieve universal secondary education access through continued infrastructure expansion. “Education is the core of any nation’s development. Education will take you out of poverty. It will ensure that inequality is now equalised,” she said.
She also cited the Because We Care cash grant, school feeding programmes, free tertiary education at the University of Guyana, and expanded technical and vocational training as part of broader efforts to improve educational outcomes.
Regional Executive Officer Juan Edghill Jr. said Starlink internet systems would be installed at the school to strengthen teaching and improve students’ access to digital resources.
The new wing is expected to significantly reduce overcrowding and provide a more supportive learning environment for students from Yarrowkabra and neighbouring communities for years to come.
