Parents initially undertook to employ and pay the teachers but, one year later, DEMBA accepted full responsibility for maintaining Echols High School with 26 children on roll.

In their tenure, the appropriate uniforms for both boys and girls were in junior and senior categories but all carried the ‘Echols High School’ badge on their berets or caps.

The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) building that was near the Recreational Hall (now housing the Linden Museum) was used for general assembly, as the two were among those occupied temporarily by the growing school population.

Candidates from Echols no longer took College of Preceptors (CP) or Senior Cambridge examinations but switched to the General Certificate of Education (GCE) ‘O’ Level, from London University and the school became a centre for those tests.

They were the Chief Justice of British Guiana, President of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society (RA&CS) of the colony and the Managing Director of DEMBA.

Mr. William Ogle replaced Mr. Sim, from England, before Mr. John Cummings succeeded to the principal post in 1965, a year prior to candidates from the school beginning to sit GCE ‘A’ level exams.

Prior to then, students who qualified to enter sixth form had to seek admission to a senior secondary school in Georgetown, from where they wrote the ‘A’ levels and DEMBA offered scholarships for the purpose.

Cummings died in a road accident on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway in November 1971 and Mr. Seigfred Lyken and Mr. Josephus Bakker, in that order, acted briefly as Principal until Mr. Clifton A. McDonald was appointed to the position in September 1972.

As there was a dire need for a concert hall, too, the Mackenzie High School Board, under the chairmanship of Mr. Clarence London, a senior DEMBA manager, in collaboration with the Gray Dramatic Group, decided to erect an edifice to meet the two needs.