By Leroy Smith
[www.inewsguyana.com] – The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company on Tuesday (February 4) presented the Ministry of Education with a $3.5M cheque to assist in the activities for the Children costume parade slated for next week Saturday.
The donation comes on the heels of criticism that much is not being done to publicize and market the events for Mashramani 2014 including the children competitions which are done through schools.
The cheque was handed over to the Chief Education Officer of the Ministry of Education Olato Sam by GT&T’s Chief Financial Officer Justin Nedd. Nedd told the media that the company is pleased with being associated with such events. Meanwhile, Olato Sam praised the move by the company which is being done for the third consecutive year and expressed the anticipation that next year it will repeat itself with an even bigger figure.
However, despite reports that the activities were not receiving enough publicity, Sam said that he is pleased with the level of publicity and marketing. “I expect that we will have a wonderful turnout even by those who have not yet enrolled in schools. I know our usual press releases were sent out, the extent to which you guys cover them are another story but I cannot speak for the media houses,” Sam told iNews after receiving the $3.5 million cheque.
The Chief Education Officer pointed out that that this is the time of the year where many persons have a chance to witness the talents and dramatic performance of the students which never cease to wow those who show up as spectators.
The Children’s Costume Parade is slated for next week Saturday taking off from the Parade ground while other children competitions are already ongoing.
There have been numerous comments and postings on the social networks with the level of publicity being given to the mash activities with several competitions being held across the country but little known of them.
Already the Chutney semi and finals have come and gone and the Carib Soca Monarch, Adult Calypso and other competitions are yet to be held along with the float parade but again, little known.
There will be no HIV/AIDS Song competition this year because the sponsors have gone into hiding. One Senior Manager of a company which usually support mash activities each year told iNews that the mash 2014 activities and its marketing have gone to an all time low. The Company Executive said that 2014 is now regarded as the worst year for mash ever.
