REPRESENTATIVES from the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education (IDCE) and Carnegie School of Home Economics were in Bartica on Tuesday, assisting residents with registration for their courses.

Both institutions are in the process of establishing a branch in Bartica to afford residents access to tertiary-level education. The representatives, who were at the Town Council’s board room, were flocked with young and middle-aged people from the small town who want to pursue higher education.

Town Clerk, Phebe Wallerson, confirmed that there were over 100 residents who came to register for programmes. The lack of tertiary-level education in, or even near, Bartica, has always had an effect on the town as it has, to some extent, hindered development there.
Some residents had told the Guyana Chronicle that the small town is affected by brain drain every year when a new batch of students exit the school system, since they are forced to move on from their hometown to pursue higher education.

But there is a lot of people still there, who want to do better and will make use of the programmes now being offered. It was confirmed that the programmes that will be available, will not be limited to those online. In fact, IDCE plans to put the necessary things in place to facilitate face-to-face classes, and so does Carnegie.

Some of the programmes are certificate programmes in areas such as Industrial Relations and Management, Marketing Management, Early Childhood I and Early Childhood II. Other programmes that will be available are Supervisory Management, Project Management, Social Work, Human Resource Management, Web Application Development, Mobile Application Development, and the list is by no means exhausted.

Carnegie will be facilitating practical skill training in catering and other areas. The Bartica correspondent, Kenneth Williams, told Guyana Chronicle that the regional authorities would have already approved the usage of the Bartica Resource Centre for the classes.

He explained too that IDCE will be training teachers, past teachers, and other qualified persons from right within the township, to be course lecturers. There are also courses for persons who did not complete secondary school, or might not have passed the core subjects. IDCE has the Academic Upgrading Programme which covers areas such as Mathematics, English Language, Principles of Business, Principles of Accounts, Chemistry, Physics, and Electronic Document Preparation and Management. After completing the Academic Upgrading Programme, persons can apply to do any course they please, including those at the University of Guyana.