Goolsarran reports…
DIRECTOR, Mr. Mohandatt Goolsarran, reflecting on the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) 2009 operations, said the year was the most successful, taking into consideration the limited resources at its disposal.

In light of its successes, he said 2010 will see a more aggressive programme being pursued at the Kingston, Georgetown institution.

Goolsarran said NCERD, last year, achieved major goals, among them the introduction of a non-graduate certificate course for secondary school Mathematics and English teachers.

“Three similar programmes will be rolled out for the Sciences in Physics, Chemistry and Biology, “he announced, noting that a more ambitious plan for the Sciences was not implemented because of some difficulties in procuring the materials to start.

However, Goolsarran said enrollment has begun and the non-graduate courses are expected to begin sometime this month.

He said another significant achievement, in that area, was the establishment of a Literacy Unit, which is concentrating on two sectors, the formal and non-formal school system.

Goolsarran said the unit coordinates the efforts of 176 centres countrywide, including, among other places, community centres and bottom house facilities.

RIGOROUS TRAINING
He said approximately 270 educators operate at those locations and, to bolster that, all teachers are undergoing rigorous training in the new literacy methodology that is being used to raise the level in Guyana.

Goolsarran said the focus of the training is not only on the new approach but also on the assessment of literacy attainment, which is based on international guidelines.

In view of international scope, he disclosed that, through the World Bank, NCERD has been able to benefit from the Early Grade Readers Assessment (EGRA) project.

That programme informs of achievement within the international benchmarks.

“We have defined higher literacy standards,” he stated, though lamenting the constraints.

“The bottom line challenge is money,” Goolsarran admitted, citing difficulties with human recourses, scarcity of skills and acknowledging that NCERD places much dependence on outsourcing.

“The outsourcing is governed by the timeline of persons recruited and we cannot dictate, in a very firm way, the attainment of certain targets. This is a major problem,” he said.

Goolsarran said there are persons who can work but they have to be paid.

He said another problem is the frequent power outages which significantly affected production and placed much strain on staffers, who needed to work extra hours to meet targets.

Goolsarran said the blackouts also affected the timely delivery of results from countrywide assessments that were done.

He said NCERD has an arrangement with the National Data Management Authority (NDMA), an arm of the Finance Ministry based at University of Guyana (UG), for the processing of results.

MAJOR PROBLEMS
“They experienced some major problems this year in terms of the frequent power outages and problems with their equipment. So we could not have received certain results,” Goolsarran said.

He said, presently, NCERD is working on the results for the 2008 grades two and four assessments.

“This year’s school by school analysis is limited because, in the absence of these results, our intervention is limited. It is not timely,” Goolsarran remarked.

He said the analysis assists NCERD to identify the weaker schools and work to improve their performance.

Goolsarran said the end of February is expected to see a clearing of this backlog.

He said, two of NCERD’s vehicles are near obsolete, so transportation of specialists to schools was affected.

“Sometimes, at the last moment, we had to cancel movements because transportation was not available,” Goolsarran said.

However, he said steps were taken and approval has been given for acquisition of a new vehicle.

Goolsarran reiterated that, at the end of the day, the bottom line remains centred on money but said efforts were being made to propel the work.

He said, for 2009, apart from the massive literacy programme, on which $251M were spent, NCERD received approximately $60M to undertake all its operations.

“The investment in NCERD, relative to elsewhere, is significant and we have been showing value for money. Every cent spent brought tremendous returns,” Goolsarran attested.

OTHER PROJECTS
Other projects for 2010 include, establishing a multi-media centre and attempts are being made to fill the vacancies that would e
xist with its opening as the equipment to furnish it has already been procured.

“We will work in partnership with the National Communications Network (NCN) and other media agencies training and equipping people, so that we can continue rolling out programmes both electronically and in print,” Goolsarran said.

He said specialised skills are being sought and assistance for the venture is coming from the Commonwealth for Learning.

Other initiatives for 2010 include the maintenance of NCERD’s website www.ncerd.gy; acquisition of a small offset printing press to improve the quality of printed materials; continued sourcing of learning resources, both material and electronic and an enhanced programme of supervision to ensure a transfer of knowledge from individuals trained by NCERD to children.

Goolsarran said the work of the agency would not be possible without support from partners such as Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Caribbean Academy of Sciences, among others.