GUYANA - The reconstruction of Mae’s Schools, located in Subryanville, Georgetown, will begin in September, co-owner Judy Sugrim told Kaieteur News. It is expected that the rebuilding process will take approximately two years to be completed.
Fire, determined to be electrical in nature, flattened Mae’s Schools on March 5, 2025. The school was not insured.
Initially, the owners indicated that the Georgetown International Academy (GIA) agreed to accommodate 350 students while various other alternatives were being explored for the remaining students to ensure they could resume classes.
However, that arrangement reportedly did not materialise, and 90 % of the students, including those in the pre-kindergarten level, are being housed in air-conditioned tents on the Mayor and City Council’s ground opposite the school.
The remaining 10% of the students are being taught online.
Sugrim explained that from September, while the school is being rebuilt, students will be housed in a temporary prefabricated building on the lawns of the Mayor and City Council’s ground opposite the school.
Meanwhile, students who are scheduled to write the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) will sit their exams at the George Walcott Lecture Theatre (GWLT) at the University of Guyana. Those sitting the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) will sit their exams at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Science and Technology in Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
Sugrim disclosed that following the Easter holiday, some of the secondary and upper primary school students will be housed at a concrete building that shares the same land with the old Mae’s school. The remaining students will continue to attend classes under the AC tents.
A teacher from the primary level told Kaieteur News that the students were deeply affected by the fire and that during the first week of their return, they were extremely sad.
“The first week they were still in mourning, they would just look over there, see the rubble and feel a bit sad,” the teacher said, while noting that the students are adjusting well.
However, a teacher from the secondary department said that some of the students are still adjusting to the environment, while others are traumatized from the unfortunate event. The teacher disclosed that the students who are traumatized are being counselled.
Notwithstanding, the students are pushing ahead with their studies. (Kaieteur News)
