Regions Five, Six teachers receive school grants to purchase supplies to further enhance classrooms

Teachers of Regions Five and Six are being provided with autonomy to purchase the relevant janitorial, field, and office supplies for their classrooms, as they received the school cash grant.  

This programme is part of the Ministry of Education’s unwavering commitment towards teachers while propelling the delivery of quality education. 

The distributions of the grant were held, on Monday, at the Department of Education, Fort Wellington, Region Five and Berbice High School, New Amsterdam, Region Six. 

Various teachers who spoke to the Department of Public Information (DPI) welcomed the initiative. 

Teacher of Bath Primary School, Jasmine DeSingh said the initiative will be very good for the school and community.

“Receiving this grant at our school will give us the money and we are going to use it effectively. We are going to use it in our classrooms to provide all the additional materials that we need to make our classrooms more child-friendly,” DeSingh expressed. 

She explained, “Sometimes, we know, as teachers, how hectic it is to go into our pockets to always take out money to buy cardboard, markers, rulers or whatever we need for our children… But with this grant and the planning of how we are going to execute this grant will be very effective.”

Headteacher of Skeldon Line Path Secondary, Imran Ally commended the ministry for embarking on this particular initiative to further enhance learning in classrooms.

Ally said, “Teachers, for too long, were burdened financially by having to create the appropriate kind of learning environment for their students.”

With a population of approximately 679 learners, the grant will assist the school tremendously. He added that the grant will provide the school’s classrooms with the appropriate learning materials. 

“Of course, we are also looking at quantities and quality. And these materials, much of it can be recycled and that it’s going to be there for years,” Ally stated. 

Meanwhile, the headteacher of Port Mourant Secondary and President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Dr Mark Lyte underlined, “I am happy. I believe this is a very good initiative to ensure that our schools get better supplies for improved and enhanced curriculum delivery. … I believe it will go a long way to help our teachers across Guyana to do better in classrooms.”

Meanwhile, the Headteacher of Canje Secondary, Deonarine Mangra noted that the grant will bring tremendous relief to teachers’ pockets. 

“I think this is a great relief for the teachers because the teachers usually spend their money to get things in order. Having this now, we do not have to do all of that,” Mangra added.

Headteacher of Berbice Educational Institute, Basodeo Utam said that the grant will indeed help tangibly to provide better learning and more effective teaching.

The headteacher emphasised, “There are many times where we need certain supplies for the classrooms and we don’t have enough. The school will have their funds because our funds are being generated from the canteen. This is a good initiative that we are getting from the government.”

The Headteacher of Low Corentyne Secondary, Karl Vanier also expressed his happiness with the provision of the grant. 

He said, “I am very happy that the ministry would have taken this initiative to every school so that they will be able to buy the supplies based on their specific needs… So, going forward, we would have classrooms that are more enhanced and conducive to learning.”

Through this initiative, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand highlighted that some $47 million is being disbursed to teachers in Region Five for this term. 

Since the list of supplies which is provided to schools is not exhaustive, the teachers were urged to be more innovative while purchasing supplies for the classrooms. 

“What we sought to do was to find a way that can give you the materials you need.  And the ones you want that are unique to your classroom and each classroom, right now, each classroom might have different needs in a timely manner… This is in service to children, but it is being given to the schools and the teachers…,” Minister Manickchand relayed. 

While outlining the mechanics of the initiative, the education minister said the grant will further boost the development of education delivery in Guyana. 

“I see in our future, calculators for every child and the replacement of fans. I see things that you have never been able to get before. You have always struggled with that in a way that a system cannot answer, simply because it is so large. I could see your schools doing better and your children being served better…,” the education minister underscored.

The injection of investments and measures in education has been widespread and continues to be consistent and strategic.

Minister Manickchand also distributed the school grant at Bath Primary School. 

On the Coastland, teachers will be given $4, hard-pressed and $5,500 per child in the Hinterland regions per term.

Last Friday, teachers of Region Three were the set of beneficiaries to receive the school grant.

The minister was joined by the Regional Chairman of Region Five, Vickchand Ramphal, the Regional Executive Officer (REO), Genevieve Blackman, Region Five’s Regional Educational Officer, Keane Adams, and other education and regional officials.