GEORGETOWN, Guyana--The Bishops’ High School (BHS) hosted its annual Ninth Grade (Third Form) Caribbean Community Caricom Project at the school on Friday, April 13.
This year’s activity was observed under the theme, “Climate: Resilience and Mitigation – Safeguarding Our Physical and Cultural Integrity.”
Two Caricom Member States were featured this year, namely Dominica and Haiti. The territory of Puerto Rico was also featured.
Dominica was displayed by Form 3B and won the overall competition with a notably brilliant stage performance which captured the history, geography, culture, climate change effects and mitigation efforts through assistance from Caricom Member States, Institutions, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other stakeholders.
Haiti was displayed by Form 3C and received exceptional support from the audience. Their displays showcased the poise and sophistication of Haitian culture. Despite a thrilling performance and display, they placed third in this highly executed competition.
The second place went to Form 3A which displayed Puerto Rico and was judged to have had the best booth presentation. While Puerto Rico is not a Caricom Member State, the students and teachers decided to feature this territory due to the level of publicity it received after being hit by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The Caricom Project will, from time to time, feature other non-Caricom countries which share cultural, trade relations and functional cooperation with the Region since we also live in a globalised community. Emphasis is, of course, placed on how those countries relate to Caricom in the execution of the displays.
It is key to note that Third States are also accredited to Caricom and obtain ambassadorial status to Caricom.
Additionally, some of the other Caricom Member States which were hit by recent hurricanes were featured at the Third Form Caricom Project in the recent past.
The costumes, culinary display, cultural and historical displays were all fascinating and showed that a high level of dedication, interest and resources were put into achieving yet another successful Caricom Project at The BHS. The students, teachers, parents and others who contributed must be thanked and commended for participating in such an educational and entertaining activity that showcased the impact, successes and resilience of Caricom.
The activity was judged by representatives from the Caricom Secretariat: Tusankine English, Sandra Barker and Shunae Samuels.
How the Caricom project started at The BHS is explained in History of The Bishops’ High School by Carmen E. Jarvis: “The idea for this series of programmes was developed after Dr. Joycelyn Byrne-Massiah’s presentation during the Georgetown Reunion in 1990.
“Dr. Massiah was of the view that our students should know more about Caricom countries, as a positive contribution to the Integration Movement, Caricom.
“The target group for the programme is the Third Form students of The BHS. Each year the Third Form is assigned a Caricom country as a study assignment. A theme is also developed linking the three selected countries.”
Caricom was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas in 1973 by Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Jamaica. The Community has grown since and now has 15 Members (Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago); and five Associate Members (Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands).
The Caricom Project continues to be a best practice in edutainment. ~The BHS Newsletter ~
