EDUCATION Minister, Shaik Baksh, last Thursday announced that a national literacy unit will be established this month end to streamline related existing programmes.

Speaking at a public consultation on literacy, in the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), Battery Road, Kingston, Georgetown, he said the establishment is necessary as the Basic Education Access Management Support (BEAMS) project has ended.

Education Minister Shaik Baksh addresses the gathering during the consultation

The one-day discussion, which was also attended by Minister within the Ministry of Education, Dr Desrey Fox, sough to garner the views of NGOs on devising a more robust implementation strategy to tackle literacy.

The dialogue was centred around the performance of the one-year-old National Fast Track Literacy Programme and the way forward to improve that initiative which targets slow learners, out-of-school youths and young adults countrywide.

Baksh, while acknowledging that literacy is an area of concern, emphasised that the problem can only be properly addressed if all stakeholders put their shoulders to the wheel.

He expressed disappointment at the absence of representatives of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) from the discourse.

According to the minister, his ministry intends to extend the fast tracking to the work place and noted that it will be of great benefit to members of the two trade union bodies who are functionally illiterate.

Baksh reported that much work has been done to address the issue at the nursery level and the curriculum of primary schools has been reorganised to enhance pupils’ performance.

He said use of the cascade literacy model in primary schools, scheduled to end in June, will be further extended because of the success it generated.

Grade Six Assessment
Baksh also said the National Grade Two, Four and Six assessments are also being strengthened to yield more satisfactory results.

He said, currently, it is being debated whether the five marks allocated to the grade two assessment should continue or used as a diagnostic tool to measure students’ performance.

Baksh revealed that his ministry is looking to issue certificates to successful candidates at the National Grade Four Assessment, with the aim of putting pressure on teachers of the various schools to do well.

He explained that the objective is to administer three certificate examinations to grade four students before they undergo the National Grade Six Assessment in an effort to bring them on par with acceptable standards.

Baksh encouraged primary school teachers to apply the pre and post test techniques to measure performance and get a sense of the areas which need strengthening.

Report
National Literacy Coordinator, Mr. Murray Greenidge, observed that since the start of the national fast track literacy initiative in May 2008, 13,000 children and 4,000 school dropouts have derived benefit.

In addition, he said, some 3,500 adults participated, 14 literacy upgrade workshops were held and 12 NGOs trained to deliver the programme contents.

Greenidge sad it is imparted by 287 literacy educators through the guidance of 14 regional coordinators and has been very challenging, mainly because the students are from various backgrounds and face different social and economic challenges.

He said an inter-diagnostic test on children in Georgetown, aged nine years, two months, showed their reading ability was at the level of a normal six-year-old.

Greenidge said, during the last seven months, the pupils performed like a seven- year-old.

He said, in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne), the same test, administered to students nine years, four months old, yielded less flattering result.

Greenidge said the outcome indicated that the candidates’ ability was on par with the average five years, 10 months old pupil but, in the space of seven months, they also improved to match six years, five months olds.

He mentioned, too, that the dropout rate of young adults who joined the programme is a major concern, because, as soon as many of them learn to write their names and to fill a form, they vanish.

Greenidge was optimistic, though, that, with more support from NGOs, many will remain and complete the programme.