– Education Minister Baksh
THE Ministry of Education will be moving to have all private providers registered to operate, Minister with the portfolio, Mr. Shaik Baksh announced yesterday.
He made the announcement at a meeting with representatives of 61 private institutions countrywide, who were attending a two-day workshop on record keeping and data management in the sector, at Regency Suites Hotel, Hadfield Street, Stabroek, Georgetown. Baksh said the purpose of the forum was to allow data to flow into the ministry in a systematic way, as required by new legislation.
He noted that, although 86 private schools, ranging from nursery to secondary, are in operation, only 27 have been approved by his ministry.
Baksh said the focus will be on getting the others to follow suit and a unit will be established to oversee the process.
He said all private schools will be inspected to ensure that they satisfy certain minimum requirements but the intention is not to close any but to get their administrators to put themselves in order.
Those schools that are below the minimum standards will be duly informed of their deficiencies and given ample time, perhaps about six months, to improve to an acceptable level, Baksh said.
He said the main objective of the process is to compel all private schools to meet certain basic guidelines set by the ministry, to ensure that they abide by the curriculum used in the public schools and are equipped to deliver quality education.
The guides can be accessed on the ministry’s website at www.education.gov.gy. and Baksh noted that the new related legislation, which is currently in the Attorney General’s Chambers, comprehensively addresses issues governing the operations of private schools.
He expressed hope that the drafters of the statute will expedite their work as he would like it to be tabled in the National Assembly before the 2011 parliamentary term ends.
Baksh said the law, which embodies modern education reform, will require all private schools to obtain a permit to operate. The permits will be issued only if certain minimum requirements are met and the approved schools will secure them automatically.
He said the permits will, mostly likely, be valid for three years, after which they would have to be renewed, the goal being to formalise the establishment of private schools and get them to comply with both the national curriculum and non-academic norms of the public schools.
In that context, Baksh said the workshop is geared to prepare private education providers to be adequately prepared when the new education legislation comes into force.

Permission
Noting that some private schools are not permitted to offer candidates for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) School Based Assessment (SBA), he said that his ministry will be moving to have all of those approved obtain permission to do so.
Baksh acknowledged that private educational institutions have a role to play in enhancing the local education standard and a stronger partnership will enable development in education to go leaps and bounds in support of the Government’s heavy investment in the sector.
He assured that the Government remains firmly committed to ensuring access and delivery of quality education because it sees that as the key to the transformation of Guyana and the lives of its citizens.
Towards that objective, Baksh said his ministry has implemented a range of measures to realise such expectations and views private education providers as important partners for the purpose.   
He said the ministry would allow a limited number of private school teachers to come on board with the Continuous Professional Development Programme and a National Teachers Council would be established as part of efforts to bolster the professionalism of private teachers, with some being selected to do the Associate Degree in Education.
Baksh said the ministry is currently placing a special emphasis on Mathematics for the country to be able to compete with the rest of the Caribbean in that subject.
He said there should be an hour more on the timetable for Mathematics but one of the biggest problems faced by the ministry is the lack of qualified teachers.
“We need teachers,” Baksh appealed, pointing to the direct correlation between the qualification of teachers in the different subject areas and the results achieved.