St Stanislaus College to get innovation fund, new buildings, modern sport ground

Last Updated on Wednesday, 9 October 2024, 9:11 by Writer

The unveiling of the plaque to mark the official opening of the “The Herbert Feeny Physics and Chemistry Laboratories”

President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday announced that an innovation fund would be established at St Stanislaus College on Brickdam, Georgetown, to benefit the students and that institution.

He said the aim is for students to apply critical thinking to develop ideas in areas such as entrepreneurship, products, and new scientific models. The President said the intent is to assist the students by making their innovations commercially viable.

He urged the private sector to inject financing into the innovation fund which he indicated was an idea he borrowed from India and other countries.

The President said St Stanislaus College should retain “some proprietary stake” in the innovations to also benefit from the revenues that such projects would generate.

Plans are also underway to construct new buildings as part of the St Stanislaus College complex for which the engineer’s estimate is approximately GY$800 million, according t0 Education Minister Priya Manickchand. She said a building on the southern side of the existing complex would be replaced by a three-storey building to accommodate classrooms, laboratories, staff space and other amenities. Ms Manickchand said the auditorium would be extended eastward to include a stage with dressing rooms and larger accommodations for students and teachers. She said planners were examining whether there could be a second storey above the auditorium for use as a students dining room. “When we are finished with Saints, and this is why we feel so strongly about this, we know that we could leave it in the capable hands of the alumni, of the board, of the school and then just leave the school to run itself,” she said.

The announcements were made at a ceremony to mark the opening of a new GY$51 million refurbished Herbert Feeny Physics and Chemistry Laboratories and the Richard Harford staff room at the College, Dr Ali’s alma mater, with listed contributions. Those included GY$2.1 million from locally-based former students; Canadian alumni GY$5.44 million, and the Feeny Family GY$3.1 million, as well as a discount of GY$6 million discount by Dyrock Construction; Richard Harford family, GY$8.99 million, and the Guyana government, GY$25.45 million.

The labs were named “The Herbert Feeny Physics and Chemistry Laboratories” in honour of Fr Herbert Feeny SJ, Senior Science Master at St Stanislaus College from 1946 to 1970.

President Ali said he has been exploring with city businessman and St Stanislaus College former student, Chris Fernandes, the development of Guyana’s first hockey field to international standards which is likely to cost US$500,000. “The government is committed to being on board and I’m sure that all of us putting our shoulders together, we can raise this and create sport infrastructure in the new ground we are investing in that is second to none nationally,” he said.