President’s College Online

Sunday, September 11
Thanksgiving Service

Monday, September 12
Pep Talk Day

Tuesday, September 13
Spill over

Wednesday, September 14
TV panel appearance on “At Home with Roger”: PCOSA students/teachers/students/PTA

Thursday, September 15
Operation Stay Clean and Dorm Competition
A day when students would be involved in sprucing up the environment.

Friday, September 16
Tree Planting Activity: Cash crops pumpkins etc., Almond Trees
Restart Orchid

Saturday, September 16
In Our Time: A day when old students would be expected to showcase their experiences at the college.

Sunday, September 17
Masquerade

Monday, September 19 – Thursday, September 22
Know your country: students would embark on various tours around the country.

Friday, September 23
Teachers Tour Day: Kaieteur Falls

Saturday, September 24
Market Day

Sunday, September 25
Family Funday: starting at 10 am and featuring Tug-of-War, Lime and Spoon, Late for School etc.

Wednesday, September 28

Thursday, September 29
Games Day: Monopoly, Drafts etc.

Friday, September 30
Documentary and Campfire

October
Construction of Bus Shed at road head
Gift Day: when the school would be accepting tokens of appreciation

November
Sports
David Rose Run

December
Old Folks Party
Caroling

January
Tentative Construction of Wash Bays

February
Interclass Elocution and Debating Competition

March
Project to bring all classrooms together by joining the teaching blocks

April
Kite Flying Competition

May
May Pole and Dance

June
Royal Plum Ball

Special Projects
Yearbook: Spearheaded by the school’s teachers
Revive Tilapia Ponds
Montage of Old Students

Souvenirs:
Jerseys, Handkerchiefs, Ties, Do-Rags etc.
Project to acquire IT equipment
Raffle PTA

NB.: the Principal is encouraging past students to work towards forming an association to help the college to fight for its rights and to give more support with regard to board decisions.

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At the association meeting on Sunday August 14 the constitution was reviewed and an interim committee selected.

Please note that the next meeting is scheduled for August 28, 14:30hrs at the Decipher office at Citizens Bank, Camp and Charlotte streets.

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An idea about excellence

The Man behind the Vision
At the unveiling of the plaque to launch the PC project in 1983, then President L.F.S. Burnham reminded the nation that “Freedom cannot be maintained by a group of mediocrities.” He further noted that “we will have a group of mediocrities, unless the education system is completely revamped as we have been attempting to do.” And so training a cadre of capable leaders for Guyana was one of the founding principles of the President’s College.

Certainly, revamping the education system to cater to the developmental needs of Guyana was an important focus among the post-independence leadership of Guyana. Indeed, before President’s College came on the scene they were a number of changes which were initiated in the education system. The premier secondary schools of that era were made co-educational and the multilateral school was introduced, among others. Undertaking the PC project was a continuation of that trend.

The President’s College was going to be a school with a difference. It was going to be Guyana’s first residential School of Excellence. The brainchild of President Burnham, the principal aims of the institution were:

*to provide Guyanese youths the finest opportunities for the inculcation of attitudes,
knowledge and skills for the building and consolidation of a free Socialist Guyana.

*to produce top quality students, on the basis of their academic performance, idelological
conviction, roundness of personality and commitment to Guyana.

*to train a cadre of leaders committed to the development goals of the
Cooperative Republic

Burnham was keen on the College fostering a welding of academic activity to sports, culture and other practical engagements aimed at producing rounded personalities. He intended the College to be science-oriented and to expose its students to computer technology and other innovations they might have only read about.

According to his vision, PC was going to be the best boarding school in the English-speaking Caribbean, for at that time there were few comparable institutions in other Anglo-Caribbean territories.

“This is an exercise in catching up…if we are to continue at the level at which we are, we will never catch up,” the late President told a gathering of prospective students in 1985.

He also told the prospective students that the government was not spending millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to develop selfish persons, but to develop brilliant people who felt that the development of Guyana was their duty.

“Our present centers of learning are more examinations-oriented rather than development-oriented thus making them relatively easy for students to pass through, academically successful, but blissfully ignorant of and uninterested in the development of the needs of our country,” Burnham lamented. It was his intention for PC to change that state of affairs.

Ideally then, the President’s College student and graduate is not only brilliant but is enlightened about his role as an exemplary leader in the Guyanese society.

Funding for the College
The college fund was launched in 1983 when, $255,000 presented by the People’s National Congress to the late President Burnham on the occasion of his 60th Birthday, was used for the construction of the President’s College.

A President’s College Fund-raising Committee was formed in 1983. Naturally, this committee was tasked with raising funds to aid the execution of the PC project. Donations were received from industries, corporations, companies, banks and other organizations.

The fund-raising committee organized several projects to generate funds. December 14, 1984 was declared `Donations Day’ for the PC building project. Donations were received at a special function at Parliament Buildings that day.

By the end of August 1985, $4 million dollars had been received in monetary donations and over a half a million dollars in materials from various firms and organizations. A number of firms had also done infrastructural work on the site at their own expense. This made the total donations more than $4.9 million dollars.

More than $60,000 in donations was received after the death of President Burnham. These were made following a request that no wreaths be sent but that contributions be made to the President’s College.

At the opening of President’s College $13 million was spent on the project. It was expected that at completion, the project would have amounted to a cost well over $55 million dollars. There were plans to include an endowment scheme to boost the fund.

Construction of President’s College
In May 1984, the National Parks Commission began to clear the undergrowth on a 200-acre plot at Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara. Actual construction began three months later.

At the opening of the College, phase one of the construction project was completed. Phase one included the dormitory block for the first batch of seventy-two (72) students, accommodation for teachers, nursing, security and other staff. The auditorium, first teaching block, library, sick-bay and dining room were also finished for the opening of the school.

By the end of 1989, several other buildings were erected. These include the second teaching block and houses for teachers. President’s College in many ways can still be considered a work in progress, as some of the initial plans for the school have not yet materialized.

Originally, for instance, an Olympic-size swimming pool and a pavilion were supposed to be built at the school’s campus but that project is yet to begin.

In the spirit of Cooperativism, many residents of nearby communities did their part for the PC project by doing self-help work during the initial phases of the project.

The College was designed by architect George Henry.

The other parts of this article will be completed under the following headings.

Selection of Students – the first batch
The Teaching Staff
Opening of President’s College
The structure/organisation of the college
The Society/Community and College
President’s College – elitist, meritocratic or egalitarian?
President’s College – The Academic and Cultural Programme
President’s College in the 1990’s
President’s College today… a work in progress
Excellence – the pursuit continues
Facts about the School of Excellence

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