a post-primary school. Political problems and Division In the course of 1970's the then People's National Congress (PNC) led by Forbes Burnham increasingly became a feared dictatorial power that was seen as anti-East Indian. A majority of East Indians in Guyana and those of the Arya Samaj movement sided with the People's Progressive Party (PPP) led by Cheddi Jagan. However, a few persons preferred not to. This was viewed as subversive by the Arya Samajists in Berbice especially when Burnham was embraced by a few leaders of the then American Aryan League. The Berbice Central Arya Samaj (BCA) was formed in an effort to bring together all the Arya Samaj groups in Berbice and was seen as embracing Pandit Usharbudh Arya. The leaders of the BCA, spearheaded by Pandit Budhram Mahadeo CCH, included Lawyer Powaroo (Bengal Village), Pt Durga (Skeldon), Mahashay Raghubeer (64 Village), Gajadhar Singh (New Amsterdam), Dwarka Nauth (Crabwood Creek), Mahashay Kirpaul (Black Bush Polder), Pandita Singh (78 Village), Pt Manohar (71 Village), Mataji Sugrim (78 Village) and many others. Pandit Arya launched and led the first Vir Dal camp at No 71 Village in Berbice. The split of the Arya Samaj in Guyana followed political lines. The advent of forced National Service in Guyana brought the split to a head when a few Arya Samaj leaders backed the National Service in exchange for position and a scholarship. The Guyana National Service was vehemently opposed by the traditional leaders who refused to let the daughters of Guyana go to the unknown dangers of the National Service centres in the forested regions of the interior of Guyana. Pandits Budhram Mahadeo CCH, and Pandit Ramlall (who later migrated to the USA) spearheaded the Arya Samaj's national condemnation of the National Service. At that time in Guyana's history, East Indian women opted to refrain from University education instead of having to undertake the National Service. In the late 1970s the Berbice Central Arya Samaj called a unification meeting of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha and the American Aryan League. This led to the formation of the Guyana Central Arya Samaj that has, since formation chosen to remain independent of political association. Today the Guyana Central Arya Samaj (GCAS) is the umbrella organisation of all Ārya Samājīs in Guyana and is led by the children of those who were the leaders of the 1970s. In 2018, the executives of the GCAS include General