Education improving in Reg. 3 – REdO
— Essequibo Islands-West Demerara launches Education Month
DPI, Guyana, Friday, September 6, 2019
Regional Education Officer (REdO) of Essequibo Islands-West Demerara, Annesta Douglas has said that the education sub-division in Region 3 is on a mission to improve the grades of students in the region.
The REdO said the Department of Education has initiated work strategies and will be utilising all its resources, to ensure results gained by students maintain a consistently high level at the end of each academic term.
Douglas made these remarks on Friday, during the ceremony to launch Education Month in the region.
“We will continue to embrace the Ministry of Education’s overarching goal which says to contribute employability and reduction of poverty by increasing performance at all levels and reducing the disparity between subgroups,” Douglas stated.
According to the Education Officer, the district has seen recent improvement. At the National Grade Six Assessment Examination (NGSA) 1n 2018, the region received 61 percent and 62 percent in 2019 for English Language. In Mathematics 39 percent was gained in 2018 and this year the region received 40 percent. Science results also saw improvement, while Social Studies was the only subject which showed a decline.
“For CSEC, in 2018, we were at 44.8% and in 2019 we are at 45.1%. There was also an improvement there,” she said. These results, the REdO noted, are from students who gained passes in Grades One to Three, including Mathematics and English Language. Douglas said the Education Department plans to build on this improvement.
Also present at the launch was Regional Executive Officer (REO), Jennifer Ferreira-Dougall, who underscored the importance of education. “It helps in the reduction of poverty, boosts economic growth and increase income. Education can promote gender equality, reduce child marriages and promote factors like piece, stable economy which are all responsible for national development and progress in a country,” the REO explained.
In his feature address, Assistant Chief Educational Officer Technical, Patrick Chinedu Onwuzirike, highlighted the importance of students’ involvement in Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET). He noted with the upcoming oil and gas sector and the direction the world is heading, those additional skills and knowledge will be an asset, since hundreds of jobs will be available in Guyana.
The small ceremony concluded with a ribbon cutting to open an exhibition of Indigenous arts and crafts provided by several Secondary School students across Essequibo Islands-West Demerara. This was held to mark both Education and Indigenous Heritage Month that are both being observed in September.
Education Month’s celebration 2019 is observed under the theme, “Education: the key to national development.”