$10.7M E-library launched at North Georgetown Secondary

The first ever state-of-the art E-Library was commissioned Wednesday morning at the North Georgetown Secondary School. The school is this year celebrating its 50^th anniversary.

The $10.7M project came out of a desire by past and current students of the North Georgetown Secondary School who decided to improve the quality of education at the school by replacing their underused paper library with something more modern.

After receiving a well-prepared welcome from students, Minister of Education Nicolette Henry spoke briefly about the importance of ICT to the development of Education in Guyana.

“The presence of libraries in our society has often benefited the academia and students at various levels. A large part of this country’s development is linked to what happens in our classrooms.

“Guyana needs a high-quality education system with globally competitive literacy and numeracy standards. An intensive effort is therefore needed to promote reading in our schools and to develop reading skills,” Minister Henry said.

The Minister told students and teachers that the introduction of an e-Library at the school is nothing short of remarkable and should be commended.

The library is part of a three-phase project to fully bring education at the school into the technological age, according to Rear Admiral (ret’d) Gary Best, a former Chief of staff of the Guyana Defence Force.

Best is a former student of the school; he is now the Coordinator of the school’s 50^th anniversary committee.

“Phase Two is accessing the information anywhere in the school with a ‘dial in’ on a tablet owned by the student and Phase Three is assessing the info from home.

“So we hope that in Phase Three the students can just be at home and dial into the repository to access this information.”

The new library was set up with consultation from various technical experts; it can accommodate 25 students at a time.