First Bauxite’s latest effort in its development program for the Sandhills Community is the introduction of high-speed internet at the Sandhills School. This initiative, launched a year ago, is expanding learning opportunities for the community’s children and making it easier for students to collaborate, share ideas and access online resources.
Sandhills is a remote riverine community located on the west bank of the Demerara River, approximately fifty kilometres from the capital Georgetown. It is accessible by river and via a network of forest trails but due to its remote location, falls outside the electricity and water utility coverage areas. First Bauxite’s processing and shiploading facility is located adjacent to the Sandhills Community and in August of 2020 the headteacher at the community school wrote to the company requesting assistance with providing online learning for its students. COVID-19 was raging at the time and the students were unable to attend school in-person. The school, which was built by First Bauxite and handed over to the community in late 2019, was like many schools – wrestling with the challenges of COVID and the impact it was having on student learning.
The timing of the request was fortuitous as First Bauxite was actively working to connect its Guyana operations to high-speed broadband internet to ensure seamless high-speed voice and data services across the business. Construction of the project began in August 2022 and involved the building of a cell tower and the laying of more than 25km of fibre optic cable. The scope of the project was consequently broadened to include laying fibre to the Sandhills School and providing the necessary hardware to enable the schoolchildren to enjoy high speed internet within the school grounds. The company also agreed to provide IT equipment including laptops and printers to facilitate virtual learning at the school. The project entered its final phase in May 2023 and the school compound went live in August last year.
When asked about the new service, Headteacher Mrs Bowman commented that the internet was actively used for educational purposes within the school and that the system had been working well with strong signal inside the school, extending to 20-30ft outside the building. When asked about the impact the new service has had on the children, staff and most importantly the learning experience, it was clear that this first of a kind project in Guyana, involving a mining company providing free-of-charge broadband internet to a local community school, has proven to be a huge success.
The team at First Bauxite is immensely proud of this achievement but is not resting on its laurels. The company is already in talks with its telecoms provider to broaden the coverage area and make broadband internet available to the entire Sandhills Community. In the coming weeks First Bauxite hopes to announce a further development in this project that will see additional access points installed in the village to facilitate access to subscription-based internet services for all residents of the community.
First Bauxite is committed to working with the communities around its operations to help them deliver on their development objectives and continuing its work as a good development partner for the Sandhills Community.
