Gov’t equipping teachers for 21st century education delivery
Ministry of Education, Guyana, Monday, November 14, 2016
The Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Education, recognising the vast potential Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is to the empowerment of Guyanese to meet developmental challenges and strengthen the economy, has embarked upon a mission to equip teachers with laptops through the e-Governance programme.
There has been some debate on who is eligible to receive these laptops, thus the Ministry of Education wishes to provide some clarity. The following levels of teachers qualify to receive laptops:
- Teachers with a minimum of 2 ½ to 3 years of service remaining (before retirement).
- Trained Teachers (Assistant Master/Mistress)
- Senior Assistant Master/Mistress
- Senior Master/Mistress
- Heads of Departments
- Deputy Head Masters/Mistresses
- Head Masters/Mistresses
- Untrained Graduates
- Specialty Teachers
- Every Teacher in Regions 1, 7, 8, and 9
- Teachers living and working in Karamat, Biaboo, Pomeroon river, and Bara Cara, Orealla, areas considered hinterland e.g . Kwakwani and Demerara River
- Education Officials (Regional, NCERD)
Laptops have been delivered to teachers in the following Regions:
| Region/Institution | Number of Laptops |
| 1 (Santa Rosa) | 150 |
| 2 | 650 |
| Georgetown | 1600 |
| CPCE | 147 |
| 5 | 600 |
| 6 | 1200 |
| 7 | 300 |
| 8 | 250 |
| 9 | 470 |
As the distribution continues, some 300 laptops will be delivered to teachers in Region 1; 1000 in Region 3; 1300 in Region 4; and 500 in Region 10 in the following weeks.
Innovative and Communication Technology (ICT) Coordinator in the Ministry of Education, Marcia Thomas
The ICT Unit of the Ministry of Education, headed by Dr. Marcia Thomas, will ensure that teachers utilise the laptops from the inception as each system is pre-loaded with Circulars, Curriculum Guides, Phonics Packages and the like.
The Ministry also wishes to report that it has successfully trained 5,500 teachers in Basic Computer Literacy and 50 schools are running SuccessMaker effectively.
Additionally, 180 Secondary School teachers competent to deliver the CSEC syllabi – (number of students writing subjects have tripled in two years), and 150 Primary schools have been trained in the use of low cost technology.
The policymakers within the education sector, recognising that in order for the government to achieve its objectives, emphasis had to be placed on teachers’ professional development in the area of ICT in education and looked at ways to contextualise and implement the process.
The aforementioned distribution of laptops and training are in keeping with Government’s plan to equip educators for education delivery in the 21st Century.