Month: January 2011

Georgetown – Minister of Education Shaik Baksh this afternoon said, a piece of legislation will be taken to the National Assembly for private schools to be licensed. The minister pointed out that the schools must reach the Ministry’s curriculum, teaching standards, seat accommodation etc. Education Ministry’s officials attached to the planning department in the meantime will be meeting with the schools and out line  all that will be required of them.
There are presently 115 private schools operating and new ones are emerging.
 

THE State funeral for Sir Ellis Clarke will be held on Friday at the National Academy for Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port of Spain, a release from the Office of the Prime Minister says. The public funeral ceremony for this country’s first president is scheduled to start at 11.30 a.m is expected to follow a private funeral service planned by Clarke’s family.Clarke will lay in State at the Rotunda of the Red House- the house of Parliament- for public viewing on Wednesday and Thursday.

Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner has canceled a scheduled trip to Qatar on FIFA business in order to deal with aggrieved maxi taxi operators.
Warner the vice president of FIFA was scheduled to meet officials from Qatar to discuss that country hosting the 2022 football World Cup.
However maxi taxi operators have planned a shut down of public transportation in protest against the Government’s decision to legalise private hire taxis.
Warner has scheduled a press conference at 3pm today to discuss his response to the planned shut down.
 

 Georgetown – Leader of the Justice For All Party and proprietor of CNS TV 6 CN Sharma, was rushed to the Caribbean Heart Institute located at the Georgetown Public Hospital after a number of heart complications early Sunday Morning. According to a close relative of the Sharma, he was not responding and suggested that he might have suffered a stroke, however the doctors at the institution did not reported on a stroke but said his heart was failing.

Pupils of at least 34 schools got an extra day home today as their schools were not opened, 29 of them to facilitate the Caribbean Secondary Education Secondary Examination. The other five schools are still being repaired and are not likely to open until next week.The Ministry of Education says the  Mt. Pleasant Government Primary, Point Fortin Anglican Primary and Charlieville Presbyterian are still being repaired in addition to the Tunapuna Secondary and the St. Augustine Secondary schools.
All other schools were expected to open as usual this morning.

Downtown Paramaribo, Suriname- Tourist from all over joined thousands of Surinamese in downtown Paramaribo on old year’s morning for the biggest shoot out of fire crakers known as ‘Pagara’ in Surname. The tradition is one which starts at 10 in the morning along Suriname’s biggest shopping district on Domineestraat. all roads all closed off leading to the almost 1 mile stretch where thousands converge for the display. Some of the Pagaras are almost 200 meters long and last some 10 minutes of none stop crackling and smoke spreading for miles.

 Georgetown – The first sitting of the National Assembly for 2011 is January 6th where the Pensions amendment Bill will be called for passage. 

Paramaribo, Suriname- Immigration authority, customs anti-narcotics officers and the Suriname police, continue to maintain strict surveillance and searches at Coronie and Saramacca as they search for Guyanese nationals who are suspected to be part of a ring involved in smuggling cocaine and guns through the infamous backtrack route. The route in a 20 minute ride by speedboat from Crabwood creek area to Suriname.