Education Minister to initiate another series of ‘Education Grounding’ outreaches
Georgetown, GINA, June 13, 2016
Another series of “Education Grounding” outreaches to the several communities to solicit feedback, and garner input, as it relates to new proposals for the improvement of the education system across the country is set to begin shortly according to Minister of Education Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine.
Since assuming office, Minister Roopnaraine began these outreaches, (which are essentially, bottom house meetings,) where he interacts with residents, (in an informal setting,) on the state of the education system and on the way forward.
In a recent interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA,) the Education Minister said that he is set to; step up this initiative in the upcoming months as he believes that he is getting the kind of recommendations that the education system needs, from the exercise.
“I feel when you hold these big conferences; you do not get out of them what you really want. Whereas in the intimacy of the bottom house meetings, I feel that those I have been able to have, have been very productive, and I am hoping that over the next months, I will be able to set up that programme so we get from the bottom, the feeling of parents and teachers and students about what is happening in their schools, what they would like to see in their schools and so on,” the Minister said.
The Minister further explained that the information garnered from these outreaches will be put into the Commissioner of Inquiry, (COI) that is currently ongoing into education.
“… we going to put that all in the COI, so at the end of the year when the commission comes up with its finding and its recommendation then we will be in a position then to really start looking at starting …the education system reform,” the Minister said.
He recalled that government’s moves to reform the system, is to produce, “not just children who can accumulate many subjects at an examination,” but an integrated, whole, twenty first century thinkers.
The Minister has thus far held ‘Education Groundings’ with communities on the Essequibo Coast and on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD).