AS the Ministry of Education continues to fulfil its mandate, they have now established a new focus, one which targets quality of learning outcomes.This was announced on Wednesday by the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand at the commissioning of the St Agnes Primary School new building. “We at the ministry want to raise with you that our focus has now shifted from access to output and we need the nation to rally around this focus.”
During her address, the minister explained that Guyana has attained Universal Primary Education and is currently working on the attainment of Universal Secondary Education. She also noted that while the education system is presently in the best place it has ever been, there is still work to be done.
According to Manickchand, the ministry will be focusing primarily on learning outcomes, especially at the primary level: “With our new focus set on primary education in particular, this section will receive increased attention and we at the ministry believe that if our children are literate by Grade Four, we have conquered half of the problem we face presently at the secondary level.
“Our focus now will primarily be on learning outcomes; we are in a good place where access to a primary education is concerned; we have attained Universal Primary Education in Guyana; and this simply means that a student of primary education age can have access to an education anywhere in the country, whether it is in the hinterland regions, Essequibo Coast or in the hustle and bustle of Georgetown.”
Reverting to the theme of the National Literacy Action Plan, “Literate by Grade 4 through consistent home, school and community involvement,” the Education Minister related that the ministry understands that there are many aspects that need to be addressed so as to make the new focus a reality and urged all persons to play their part. “Now that we have our children in beautifully appointed classrooms, we now have to make sure that when they sit in those classrooms we teach them properly and when they exit at the different levels, that they are exiting as quality persons so that they can take this country to the next step,” Manickchand said.
During the recent ceremony held in observance of International Literacy Day, the minister noted carefully that the ministry had conducted a literacy test on the number of students that could read at their grade level. This test was conducted from Grades One to Six, and while this does not say that the students cannot read, it simply opens our eyes that more needs to be done, since “only 32% of our students are reading at grade level.”
Reiterating that presently “we have to make sure we have trained teachers, at present we have 72% of our teachers trained the highest ever in the history of Guyana and over the next five years, we intend to raise the bar to 80% trained teachers,” she said, explaining that the ministry will be monitoring the levels of education that are given to students and if the teachers need to be re-trained, “it will happen,[because] having the skills that are required to deliver a quality education is a necessity,” noting that this is one of the first steps in achieving quality learning outputs from students.
Another initiative that the ministry has embarked upon is “the writing [of] our own books and having them available in a timely manner,” Manickchand said.
Manickchand concluded by also urging parents that their support, assistance and encouragement are very important to their children’s education and this will also assist the ministry in their new focus.