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| Although Guyana has achieved universal access to primary education, moves are steadily apace to ensure that 100 per cent access to secondary education is realised under the current Governmental Administration.Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, at a press conference yesterday said that as part of the Ministry’s projection, “we intend to achieve universal secondary education before the first term of the Donald Ramotar administration ends.”This by extension means, the Minister said, that students across the country who are of secondary age can access a general secondary education which translates to them being exposed to five years of the secondary curriculum. “We have practically achieved universal secondary education in many Regions (but) we have some more work to do in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine, and we have some work to do regarding general proficiency to secondary education on the Coastland,” the Minister divulged yesterday.She said that while infrastructure is not a challenge in many of the Regions, the Ministry will be tasked with addressing a transportation shortcoming. She said, “What we need to do is to provide transportation for children to get from point A to point B…We are working consciously on this and I believe this is something I would be pleased to announce shortly that we have achieved.”And according to the Minister moves will continue in the New Year by the Education Ministry to improve the pass rates at the secondary level, particularly in the areas of Mathematics and English.This strategic venture is intended to help students to matriculate, Manickchand said. The Ministry has been able to secure the services of two Mathematics Specialists – at the level of a Senior Education Officer in the Secondary Sector and another at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development.The Minister said that efforts have been made by the Ministry to collaborate with the World Bank to introduce some new measures to make learning Mathematics accessible and interesting.The Education Ministry, during the past year, had been looking to improve its delivery of education. According to Manickchand, countries across the world have been discussing access to education and ensuring that children are placed in classrooms.Efforts in this regard, she disclosed, has allowed Guyana to achieve universal primary education thereby allowing all children in the primary-age cohort to access an education.But although the uphill task of getting children into the classrooms has been achieved here, Manickchand said, “We have to make sure that the learning is of a high quality, that the teaching is of a high quality. That is something that we have to collaborate with the teachers on; we have to ensure better monitoring and this is something that we (countries across the world) are struggling with to accomplish.”The Minister underscored that the global debate has shifted from merely access to education to that of the quality of education. “Guyana is thankfully poised to discuss and pursue quality because we have achieved access,” she said.Manickchand disclosed yesterday that the Education Ministry is looking to ensure that quality education is delivered in environments conducive to learning which she said will see the Ministry working towards bringing a halt to furniture woes for instance.In this regard, she said, “We are hoping that we will be able to provide for every single school all the furniture that is needed in nursery, secondary and primary as well as all of the furniture needed for teachers.” |
