[www.inewsguyana.com] – Berbicians were urged to use the four pillars of foundation erected by their fore parents to continue the building of the future of the nation. The Four pillars of Foundation are the Land, Education (school) Church and Home.
This was the charge delivered to persons who celebrated emancipation in Berbice by President David Granger. The Head of State spent his day with Berbicians on the Corentyne at Kildonan and Liverpool and at Sandvoort village, West Canje.
Delivering the feature address, he called on the residents to be self-supportive as it is a way in which the future of the nation can be built.
“After slavery [was abolished] our fore parents didn’t sit under a Banana tree and wait for the Banana to drop in their mouth… They started to buy villages and make homes, cultivate farms and build schools for their children… nothing was given to them on a platter… they fight and struggle and worked for [what we have today]” the Head of State said.
President Granger further called on the residents to return to utilizing the lands for agricultural purposes. He encourages families to become self-sufficient and grow produce so they can feed their families and assist other families.
“You eat what you grow… we must not allow our sons and daughters to forget about the soil” he stated.
The gathering was also told to continue the line of being the entrepreneurs that was started by our ancestors.
“We must be able to make Guava Cheese and Jam and fruit drinks and our children must be able to wear uniform sewed by young ladies in the community”, he said while explaining that the line of entrepreneurship can contribute to the village economy and the country’s economy at large.
It was indicated that the government can only aid in a percentage of development but with the villages being self-sufficient, they can become more developed communities and provide a better live for the uprising generations, since they are equipped with better resources and technology.
“Our fore parents didn’t get all the resources, but they built the economy and use their savings to buy villages” the president declared.
Turning his attention to the education sector, the His Excellency called on persons hungry for community development to ensure that within the next year all children are in school.
“Too many Guyanese children are dropping out of school and too many of them are not working. This is because they did not educate themselves” Granger stated.
He challenged the community hungry for development persons to go into the communities and find out the reasons why children are not attending the school.
“I don’t want to hear children running around in the community at ten in the morning and they are not attending school because they don’t have anything to eat. Ensure that they have food, clothing, and transportation fare. Provide that for them as a village we need our children in school” he announced.
Looking at a long term scenario, President Granger stated that he would like to see majority of Guyanese being qualified with a university education.
Touching on the importance of the home and church in society as two pillars of foundation, the President said they must follow the trend of praising God and thank him for his blessings as our ancestors did.
He called on fathers to stay at home and preserve strong families as it contributes to strong communities which then contribute to strong nations.
Emancipation is a continuous process, the newly elected President stated, as he called on Guyanese to continue to free their minds and self and work towards nation building.
President Granger was accompanied on the visits by Minister within the Ministry of Education, Nicolette Henry and Dr. Karen Cummings, Junior Minister of Public Health, who also shared emancipation greetings.
Great Observation Rohit Parmanand. I would also love to see employment opportunities for those same U.G graduates, too many have no job after graduating.
Rohit Parmanand…Brother i must say that as i read your comments on I News,you are one of the few persons who are honest and direct in your comment,weather its for or against the Government.You tell it like it is,keep it up.Real talk
Amen to what you said brother. Education is the key and we must not waste competent resources like Freddie Kissoon who by all accounts was and is an excellent lecturer. UG needs him.Perhaps a letter writing campaign for his return to the institution?
The PNC stop nation building now they want it to be Continued,
Our Amerindian Must be Emancipated Too the First lady should Demand that is done.
Happy emancipation day Guyana.
The president has made a beautiful speech or as we say in Guyanese parlance has sppechified beautifully. I think and i know that he has very good intentions for all Guyana and we wish him and his family health and happiness on this emancipation day.
I would like to take up the president on two statements he made and call him out on both.
1. Too many children are dropping out of school. It would be very simple to make a call on the education fall out and while it may be true that many children are dropping out of school we need to have the statistics. This is not rocket science and the ministry must have these data available and work with the social and cohesion ministry in addressing these issue.
2.On the majority of Guyanaese qualifying with a university degree. I want to know what is the short term plan for the UG. The UG is the only institution that can help guyana to raise our competitiveness as a nation. All this talk about entrepreneurship willl be useless. The UG has to have an immediate short term plan to raise standards on the curriculum and to ensure that continuous development is embraced.
In this regard we need to have all our courses taught by competent persons and also to let them have their duty free cars there is no problem with that.
We pussyfooting with education lets do something now.
Give back Fredreick Kissoon his job at UG. You are never too old to impart knowledge.