GEORGETOWN, GUYANA – From a condemned shell to a gleaming new landmark, Brickdam Secondary School is back, and it’s sending a clear message: the days of makeshift classrooms and patchwork schooling are coming to an end.
On Monday morning, cheers echoed across Camp Street as President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali officially commissioned the rebuilt Brickdam Secondary, a sleek three-storey facility that will soon welcome nearly 500 students from Georgetown and surrounding areas.
The original school was abandoned in 2016 due to structural issues. For nearly a decade, its students were shuffled into temporary spaces while the building deteriorated. Now, standing tall with 22 classrooms, modern science labs, and dedicated rooms for counselling and wellness, the new school represents more than just concrete and steel—it’s a long-awaited return to dignity.
“Too many children spent too many years waiting,” one parent said outside the new gates. “This is the kind of school they should have had all along.”
Speaking to a packed auditorium of students, teachers, and parents, President Ali didn’t shy away from the broader meaning behind the building.
“This is not just about one school. It’s about creating a system where every child, no matter where they live, has access to real, quality education,” he said.
That vision, he added, includes phasing out the long-criticised “primary top” arrangement, where students past Grade Six were forced to remain in primary schools for lack of proper secondary institutions.
“We’re ending that. It’s unacceptable, and it stops here,” Ali declared to applause. Since taking office in 2020, the PPP/C government has accelerated school construction across the country, from coastal towns to remote hinterland villages, in what it calls the largest secondary education buildout in national history.
Inside the new Brickdam Secondary, that promise is now tangible. A science lab gleams with new equipment. Counselling and sick bays signal attention not just to academics but to student wellbeing. “Our children deserve the best, not eventually, but immediately,” Ali said.
“And in Guyana, that’s not just a slogan. It’s happening.” While officials hailed the project as a triumph of planning and investment, for the students who will fill those classrooms in September, the transformation is personal.
