‘Children parade is not a wining competition’

By Bibi Khatoon

Acting Administrator of the Allied Arts Unit of the Education Ministry, Lorraine Barker-King is urging parents to discourage their children from gyrating during this weekend’ Children’s Mashramani float parade.

The final leg of the Children’s Mashramani competition will be hosted on Thursday and Friday at the National Cultural Centre.

This will be followed by the Children’s float parade on Saturday, which will commence at the Parade Ground and conclude at the National Park.

At a press conference on Tuesday, February 13, 2018, to announce sponsorship of the event, Barker-King urged that students not be seen “wining” during the parade.

“We’re encouraging everyone to support our children and please, members of the public, do not encourage our children to wine. It is not a wining competition but they’re there to showcase the costumes.”

The event is being sponsored by Banks DIH’s Malta Supreme and Rainforest Water Brands at a cost of over $2M. According to Public Relations Officer at Banks DIH, Troy Peters, the company is pleased with what it has seen thus far and is pledging double of the amount it gave last year.

The press conference was also addressed by Chief Education Officer (CEO), Marcel Hutson who noted that his ministry supports such cultural events in order to produce well-rounded students.

This year the floats at the Children’s parade will depict ‘a celebration of our people’, Guyana’s rich flora and fauna and the country’s various industries.

The parade will commence at Parade Ground from 10:00hrs for the primary and secondary school students while the nursery students will join the parade at Lamaha and Camp streets.

Mashramani 2018 is being hosted under the theme ‘Let’s Cooperate and Celebrate Republic 48’.