The Ministry of Education has commissioned a computer-aided design laboratory at Zeeburg Secondary School on the West Coast of Demerara, completing the first phase of a programme to improve digital skills in industrial technology teaching. The commissioning was held on Wednesday 30 September. 

Each school has an air-conditioned room with high-powered laptops, peripheral hardware and AutoCAD software. The other five are North Ruimveldt Secondary, Abram Zuil Secondary, Bygeval Secondary, Hope Secondary and New Amsterdam Multilateral School. No breakdown of the G$85 million by school has been released by the ministry.  At Abram Zuil, in Region Two, the laboratory has more than 20 laptops and an interactive smart screen. The ministry described it as the first of its kind in a Guyanese secondary school. Until then, only the Government Technical Institute had such a facility.

Dr Ritesh Tularam, the deputy chief education officer for technical and vocational education and training, told the ceremony that technical education has moved beyond learning to operate tools. He said it now calls for digital competence, creativity and problem solving. The laboratory, he said, lets pupils "move from an idea in their imagination to a precise digital design" that can be tested and altered before it becomes a physical product or structure. At an earlier opening he said the ministry had changed from drawing boards and set squares to AutoCAD systems.

Sonia Parag, the education minister, spoke at the launch at North Ruimveldt Secondary on Tuesday 29 September. She said the equipment is comparable to tools used internationally and told pupils they were taking part in a historic moment for technical education. In her account, the work now involves creating designs in three dimensions on screen, and it prepares pupils to become the architects and engineers who build the country's infrastructure. These are ministerial statements, and the ministry has offered no independent assessment of how the equipment compares with that used elsewhere.

Ms Parag also urged more girls to enter engineering and design. The ministry has not published figures on how many girls use the laboratories, or on what share of industrial technology pupils they make up.

The laboratories are linked to examinations. Candidates sitting Caribbean Examinations Council industrial technology subjects, including building drawing and mechanical engineering drawing, can now produce digital drawings and three-dimensional models on workstations. Previously they worked at traditional drafting boards. Dr Tularam has said that the Hope and North Ruimveldt laboratories will also serve as digital skills hubs, open to pupils from neighbouring schools.

The programme forms part of a wider plan. The ministry says it is working to extend technical and vocational subjects to every secondary school, with the aim that every child leaves school proficient in at least one technical or vocational skill. It has also referred to revised curricula and competency-based training materials for the sector. Officials link the investment to demand from the country's expanding economy for workers with digital and technical skills, although the ministry has not published labour market figures to support that.

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