2011 budget coverage….
– advocates raising teachers retirement age
MINISTER OF Education, Shaik Baksh, while defending the budgetary allocations for education and debunking statements from the Opposition, appealed for parents to become more involved in their children’s education and to ensure they go to school. He also talked about raising the retirement age for teachers, so as to retain those of them whose skills are needed in the school system.
Making his contribution Wednesday to the ongoing budget debate at the National Assembly, the Minister noted that some 15 per cent of the budgetary allocation was for education, which sum represents seven per cent of the GDP.
“If you look at the UNESCO reports around the world,” he said, “you will see Guyana standing tall as one of the top countries where spending on education is concerned, as a percentage of the budget, and as a percentage of GDP. There is a commitment, because we see investment in human resources because it is in our people that we will ensure the transformation of our country.”
Responding to PNCR’s Amna Ally, he said that even though he admired her forcefulness and dynamism, her presentation lacked credibility. “We have heard her talk about corruption, but I would like the Honourable Member to point out one instance of corruption in the Ministry of Education,” he said, adding:
“She spoke about poor management and discrimination, and cited one case of alleged discrimination, and I want to deal with that, upfront. It gets out there in the media about this case of discrimination… I want to talk about the case of Honourable Member Dawn Hastings upfront.”
As he explained, Hastings, who is the headteacher of the Jawalia Primary School, was seconded to the Education Department Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni). “[She was] seconded by the Regional Administration; not by the Ministry of Education,” he said, adding that a recommendation had to be made to the Teaching Service Commission, and that said recommendation was made and approved.
“I have a letter here for the secondment, and for her to act as ‘District Education Officer 1’ at the Department of Education,” he said. He said too that because of a mistake in the date of appointment in the letter, the Teaching Service Commission will now have to amend the correspondence, following which the Region will write to the Public Service Ministry for Hastings to be paid a responsibility allowance. “I can see that this will happen shortly,” he said.
With reference to Ally’s observation during her presentation that there has been no progress is education, the Minister said, much to the amusement of the House, which erupted into laughter: “I can take the blows, but not too low.”
“Come higher up,” he urged, “so I can defend myself.”
Humour aside, he said there are clear goals in the Strategic Plan, and that the government is moving to achieve those goals. “We said we would move the CSEC Grades One to Three from 56 per cent to 70 per cent. And we got 66 percent. Is that not progress? Never before have we achieved such high percentage of marks as in 2009 to 2010. That is progress,” he said.
“When you look at the 33 subjects written,” he said, “you are only seeing a 100 per cent pass rate in Guyana; Guyana has been holding its own across the Caribbean; it is a credit to all our hardworking teachers. They have heeded the call of the Ministry of Education to come on board, and I really want the Opposition to come on board too.”
According to the Strategic Plan, the projection is that by 2013, Guyana will be seeing a 50 per cent pass rate in ‘English A’, which would be 10 per cent improvement on its current performance in the subject area. But judging from what the minister is saying, we have already gone past that mark by almost 20 percent. Said he: “We already have 59 per cent: Is that not progress?” 
The same applies, too, for our performance at mathematics. “In mathematics, we said by 2013 we would move mathematics from 23 to 40 per cent. We were at 35 per cent in 2010. [Pass rates] for English A and mathematics have been the best for the decade,” the minister said.
In terms of our performance at the Grade Six Assessment examinations, it seems that we’re not doing too badly either. “We have been doing well… the percentage of students gaining 50 per cent or more in mathematics increased from 21 per cent in 2009 to 34 per cent in 2010. It is a low base, but we are moving. In English, 27 per cent in 2009 to 34 per cent in 2010; in Social Studies, 32 per cent to 34 per cent; and in Science, 23 per cent to 33 per cent. That is progress; we’re moving up; we’re getting there,” the minister said.
Noting that his ministry recognises that there are reasons for underperformance, and that one of them is the attendance rates of students, Minister Baksh said:
“We have to do much more to get our parents to send their children to school; we cannot put all the blame on the school system. We have to be partners in this, and we have to move the NGOs, the religious organisations to get the children into schools. There is so much that the teachers can do.”
The ministry, he said, has been proactive where attendance is concerned and has had over 200 truancy campaigns in 2010, which saw some 37 persons being hauled before the courts. And because of this aggressiveness on the part of the ministry, he said, more children are now going out to school.
“I had meetings with hundreds of school managers over the past three weeks, and all of them are behind this promotion policy with strong remediation, and they have all put up their plans of what they intend to do to ensure remediation takes place,” the minister said, adding that the policy is subject to review.
On the issue of retirement, the minister said it has been recognised that many teachers are in their prime at 55, which is why the ministry has reintroduced the reemployment of retired teachers into the school system. “We will continue to do so, because I feel our retired teachers still have a contribution to make,” he said, adding that there are however certain conditions to be met, such as health. “Your health must stand up,” he said.
Unable to resist taking another dig at his parliamentary colleague, Amna All, he said: “When I look at the Honourable Member (Ally), I could see that she needs no medical examination.”
On a serious note, he said: “The time has come for us to increase the retirement age, which is 55, and what makes it more aggravating to me is that teachers can opt out of the system at 50. We need to keep them longer in the system, so that they can contribute the very important skill resources in our country and we have to look at our policy with regard to the retirement age.”