$41.9B for improvement of Education Sector

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, November 28, 2017

The Education sector this year has copped a $41.9 billion allocation, all geared towards improving the quality of education provided to Guyana’s children.

In his budget presentation to the National Assembly on Monday, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan said there is a clear need for reform and innovation across the nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education.

“Improving the quality of education will not be fixed by building more schools and buying more furniture. While non-academic standards continue to be critical to the quality of education delivery, it is the presence of a teacher who cares enough to ensure that each child masters literacy and numeracy at the lower grades that will influence their performance in future years,” he said.

To this end, Minister Jordan noted that government will continue to add to the pool of trained teachers, which currently stands at 77 percent. Some 450 graduates are expected to join the trained teacher workforce, while 37 untrained teachers will complete the teacher upgrading programme, to prepare for the trained teachers ‘certificate programme.

In 2018, an additional 335 trained teachers are also expected to join the workforce.

According to Minister Jordan, much emphasis will be placed on early childhood education literacy programmes in the new year, which will see the roll-out of 200 early childhood resource kits, and the continued roll-out of the ‘READ PLAY LOVE’ mass media campaign will continue.

Passion for Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) subjects must be aroused at an early stage in a child ‘s development and transitioned throughout the primary and secondary levels, Minister Jordan said. In this regard, the Government is implementing an Inquiry Science Education approach, which is being piloted in 10 primary schools. In addition, some 250 mathematics kits, to facilitate better learning outcomes, have already been distributed to secondary schools.

The government, he said will also support the construction of practical instruction departments at secondary schools in Mabaruma, Bartica, Mahdia, and St. Ignatius, and practical instruction centres in Fellowship, Beterverwagting, and Hopetown. The upgrade and expansion of these centres, he said, will create an enhanced learning environment necessary to equip students with marketable skills.

 

By: Alexis Rodney

 

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