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The winners of the second national Scratch coding competition in Guyana have been announced. More than 80 teams from eight regions of Guyana participated in the challenge, which required students in the 1st – 10th grades to create a Scratch animation project reflecting their research about the effects of climate change on their community or country.

Georgetown International Academy’s Team Green took the first-place prize, while Queens College, ‘Gotta Scratch that Itch’ and Aurora’s ‘Team Sunflower’, as well as Queens College ‘The last minute gang’, shared second place. Lima Sands ‘School Coders’ and LimaSands_Team Inspiration claimed third place, with Central Mahaicony’s ‘4TGirls’ in fourth place and Bartica Mayor ‘Team Creative Hands’ and Kaneville’s ‘Ebank GoldenAchievers’ tying for fifth place.  The Lake Mainstay club received special honors by winning the coveted “Director’s Trophy” for excellence, outstanding citizenship, 4 or more teams entered into the competition and outstanding research.

All students will receive certificates, while the top 3 overall teams and coaches will also receive cash prizes.  In addition, the top teams from each region will also receive certificates and medals. The top regional teams included teams from region 1 Port Kaituma, region 2 Aurora-Team Sunflower, region 3 Bell West_Coding Club, region 4 Georgetown International School, region 5 Central Mahaicony_4TGirls, region 6 West Canje Club, region 7 Bartica Mayors Office_Creative Hands, and and region 9 Tabatinga_Team Red.

More than 50 teams from STEMGuyana’s learning pods program participated in the competition, demonstrating the significant role that afterschool programs play in developing students’ skills and interests in STEM.

Members of the Lake Mainstay team (STEM Guyana photo)

The competition was sponsored by support from the IDB, Tullow Oil, GTT, and select members of the Guyana Diaspora. The Ministry of Education was also credited for allowing afterschool programs to exist and flourish in several school facilities.

“We are thrilled with the level of creativity and dedication shown by all the participating students,” said STEMGuyana Operations Manager, Ms Alisha Koulen,  spokesperson for the competition. “They worked tirelessly to research the topic, develop animation concepts, and bring their ideas to life using coding logic and engineering design principles.”

The scratch coding competition provides an opportunity for students to strengthen their soft skills like collaboration, communication, conflict resolution, innovative thinking and leadership skills.  Students also get to hone their skills in coding and design, while also raising awareness about important issues such as climate change. The competition also helps to foster a love of STEM subjects and encourages students to pursue careers in these fields.

When asked what the greatest challenge in hosting such a large and innovative national event, STEMGuyana Director Karen Abrams stated that, “the ability to scale and manage such a large number of teams was the biggest challenge. However, the automated platform which we created will allow us to scale the event to hundreds, even thousands of teams. The entries were graded through the platform by college students in the US, but our organization is currently working on an artificial intelligence component which will allow for complete automation of the scoring of thousands, even millions of entries which will be useful as we expand the competition throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.”

According to Abrams, the competition will help identify areas for improvement, but overall, the event’s operations were relatively smooth once the participants got used to the software.  The sponsors and organizers of the Scratch coding competition congratulate all the winners and participants and express their excitement for the next coding event which is scheduled for July 2023. (STEM Guyana press release)

He was freed in October 2021 after the State failed to present witnesses to pin him to the crime.

Two months after his release, Bailey, who was represented by attorney Nigel Hughes and Associates, had filed the law suit. He had named the Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, and the DPP, Ali-Hack as respondents in his Statement of Claim.

When Bailey’s application was heard Friday last in the Demerara High Court, Justice Nareswhar Harnanand dismissed the application.

When contacted, Hughes told the News Room that Justice Harnanand maintained that the issues raised in Bailey’s lawsuit were res judicata, meaning that it was already determined in his earlier action to seek bail while incarcerated.

According to Hughes, while Bailey was waiting for his trial to be heard, he had filed a constitutional motion seeking bail.

“That matter was heard by Justice Young (Damon) who said that there was no delay in bringing the case against him because there was COVID in the interim and because Justice Young ruled in that case, Justice Harnanand said that the issues that were raised when we sued after he (Bailey) would have been released were res judicata. In other words, already determined,” Hughes explained to the News Room.

Among Bailey’s request was for a declaration that his arrest and detention was without lawful justification, that the decision by the DPP to institute a murder charge was an abuse of power and also a declaration the delay in his trial was a breach of his guaranteed right to liberty and a fair trial.

Also, he has asked the High Court to declare that the failure to provide basic medical facilities at the Lusignan Prison and his exposure to COVID-19 was inhumane and degrading.

In addition, he had asked for several $100,000 sums to compensate individually for wrongful preferment of the charge of murder, wrongful detention, malicious prosecution and denial of his right to protection from inhumane and degrading treatment, among others.

Bailey previously said that he served time in three prisons where he was attacked, suffered a minor heart attack, and contracted the novel coronavirus.

caught the attention of India for some time now.

Guyana’s bid round for 14 new oil blocks was launched last December and it is expected to close by April, 2023. The government hopes to award contracts by the end of May 2023.

The oil blocks on auction are for shallow and deep water areas and if successful, companies will be guided by a fiscal and contractual terms meant to garner greater benefits for Guyana.

Tokhi said ONGC Videsh is very serious about entering the Guyana market.

“We have had very serious discussions at very different levels, even at the highest level,” he said.

Though these five companies are keen on investing together in Guyana’s oil and gas sector, the Director also said ONGC Videsh is open to collaboration with other partners.

Partnerships, he explained, are particularly crucial for production in the deep water areas since greater capital investments are needed.

rare condition.

Dr Amarnauth Dukhi, Guyana’s top neurosurgeon, on Monday told the News Room that 180 of the tablets were procured and Stacy will have to visit his clinic on a monthly basis for a check-up.

In February, Dr Dukhi and his team at the Georgetown Public Hospital diagnosed Stacy with a rare neurological disease that affects the motor neurons. Since then, the hospital, on the direct orders from President Dr Irfaan Ali, started the process of procuring the medication from the United States of America (USA).

The costly riluzole tablets are used to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Stacy, a resident of Mocha, East Bank Demerara, was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Riluzole will be used to treat the rare disease and prevent the further progression of the disease.

Dr Dukhi previously explained that his team will start with the drug usage and then add more medication to her treatment. The treatment will be a lengthy one but it should help her to be less uncomfortable. Importantly, Dr Dukhi said regardless of which part of the world she sought this treatment, the riluzole medication would be used.

The single mother lost her ability to walk in 2020 and despite numerous visits to several doctors over the years, they were unable to diagnose her.

Soon after she publicly shared her story, the government stepped in to provide her with free medical assistance.