Minister of Education, Hon. Priya Manickchand Press Statement
APNU/AFC tries to con the nation again!
This afternoon the Ministry of Education announced a partnership with the Commonwealth of Learning and Coursera that would offer 4000 free online courses from reputable universities from which certificates would be issued upon successful completion. The announcement generated a tremendous amount of interest and applause. Not surprisingly the failed, ineffective, incompetent APNU/AFC which was unable and/or unwilling to engage in a similar collaboration to benefit the people of this country during the pandemic choosing instead to dedicate their energies towards rigging an election, at which even that they failed, seeks to discourage Guyanese from benefiting from this program with half-truths, prevarications and outright lies. The APNU/AFC may want to explain and apologise for their failure to bring these opportunities to Guyana when Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago and other countries were enlisting their people. I invite you all to ignore APNU/AFC, rubbish their claims, sign up and #upskilll.
In my comment are two articles that easily debunk these little lies. A simple google search would have saved them the embarrassment.
- https://www.col.org/news/press-releases/col-and-coursera-join-hands-offer-workforce-recovery-initiative?fbclid=IwAR1xvEMDHQOKjWKii_dWPaNgrUGBWZX_PfV4XPGKlUDlrQBlJd7dsvwNLXg
- https://www.barbadosadvocate.com/news/workforce-programme-launched?fbclid=IwAR1xvEMDHQOKjWKii_dWPaNgrUGBWZX_PfV4XPGKlUDlrQBlJd7dsvwNLXg
APNU/AFC attempts another theft of opportunities from Guyanese. Reject them!
Late Friday evening, in clear worry about the overwhelming response by the Guyanese people to a collaboration between the Government of Guyana and the Commonwealth of Learning to offer more than 4000 free online Coursera courses to Guyanese, the APNU/AFC issued the most disingenuous statement.
In it, amidst much fluff and prevarication, they claim 1. There is no formal partnership with the Commonwealth of Learning and Coursera. 2. that certification upon completion of courses would require a fee 3. That the ministry is engaged in a data gathering exercise 4. That the registration does not provide applicants with an option to choose their courses.
All of these claims are outright lies and an attempt to dissuade persons from benefitting from this program, which can only do them good.
The COL and Coursera announced a partnership on or around the 7th May 2020 to “facilitate free access to … courses designed to skill and reskill citizens of Commonwealth Member States for livelihoods.” This was in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns, which impacted learners and caused job loss across the world.
Countries that wanted to benefit from this collaboration were required to establish a platform where applicants could register after which they would be forwarded to Coursera and have unlimited and free access to more than 4000 courses, which they would choose for themselves or with help through help desks, and upon successful completion of any, certification would be free.
Guyana was invited to partake in this program in May 2020, and reminded again in July 2020, but the APNU/AFC, more concerned with rigging the National and Regional Election, than serving the people of this country even as they foisted themselves on the nation as its Government, failed, refused and/or neglected to avail the country of this opportunity.
As soon as the PPP/C assumed office, in keeping with its commitment to meet the needs of people, particularly to offer training and education so as to make persons more marketable and equipped to find employment, now and post- COVID, the Government immediately seized the opportunity presented to the people of Guyana, engaged COL and embarked on facilitating and launching the program.
It is this program that the APNU/AFC now criticizes. As APNU/AFC seem bent on being a dog in the manger discouraging Guyanese citizens from benefitting from this program, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St Lucia and other Caribbean countries will have their citizens graduating various programs on the 22nd of September 2020. Guyana’s Minister of Education has been invited to speak at that Graduation.
Thankfully Guyanese are not that far behind having been able to remove the burden of poor governance that was the APNU/AFC from around their necks.
It is clear the kind of service our people appreciate. As at 10:29pm less than 6 hours after its launch, 5,753 Guyanese had already registered. That figure nownstands at 10,000.