PEER aimed at tackling deficiencies in Education

DPI/GINA, GUYANA, Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Teachers in the Public Sector continue to benefit from training through workshops and seminars under the National Programme for Emergency Education Reform (PEER), Chief Education Officer of the Ministry of Education, Marcel Hutson told the Department of Public Information/ Government Information Agency ((DPI/GINA) in a recent interview.

Hutson explained that schools “have not being doing so well in Mathematics.” Hence the $337.4 M PEER programme is aimed at improving Mathematics and English performance at the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) examination and, more particularly, the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).

The PEER programme aims to address these deficiencies. In addition to recruiting and retaining Mathematics specialists, Administrators and teachers are also being trained in Content and Methodology.

“We are moving in a direction where I think in a couple of years we will see real change in terms of the outcomes in relation to Mathematics”, Hutson said.

Hutson explained that the PEER programme falls under the purview of Assistant Chief Education Officer, Secondary Leslyn Charles. He said her team has been visiting schools around the country, implementing the programme, to get teachers to deliver higher standards.

The Chief Education Officer said that schools have developed their own action plan to tackle the problems they are faced with. He explained that, at the Primary School level, he has been instrumental in improving the results of the National Grade Six Assessment. “So we are working with that, we have monitors in the school system which is persons outside of the school system who monitor the interventions at the primary level”, Hutson said.

In 2016, the results for English and Mathematics, at the Grade Six levels, were described as alarming. 10 and 11-year-olds took tests on core subjects, which resulted in 14 per cent passing in Mathematics, revealing that over 12,000 children were not numerate. More than half of those writing English could not sufficiently comprehend the official language to attain a 50 per cent score.

Government has since undertaken a series of responses to address the institutional, human resource, and strategic planning deficiencies that have plagued the Education system for over a decade.

The PEER programme is just one of the many  initiatives rolled out by the Ministry of Education to address these issues.

 

By: Gabreila Patram