-Education Ministry on track to surpass 70% benchmark by 2013
CURRENTLY, some 65 per cent of teachers in the school system have completed formal training and with the Guyana Improving Teacher Education Project (GITIP) now on stream, the Ministry of Education is on track to surpass the 70 percent benchmark outlined in its 2008-2013 Strategic Plan. This was disclosed by Education Minister Shaik Baksh yesterday when scores of senior functionaries of the Ministry of Education convened to participate in a mid-term review of the Education Strategic Plan 2008- 2013 at the Ministry of Education Sports Complex, Carifesta Avenue.
Representatives from all ten administrative regions gathered to discuss the progress made to date and to determine strategies to be implemented in moving forward.

Within recent years, education in Guyana has undergone major transformations in response to the emerging socio-cultural, economic, and political needs of the society.
In this regard, a state paper on education policy and a series of education plans were developed; among these was the Ministry of Education 2008-2013 Education Strategic Plan which inter alia aims to increase the number of trained teachers in the school system to 70 per cent by 2013.
Baksh emphasised that the occasion marks the beginning of the review process and urged those gathered not to lose sight of the importance of the plan.
“This comes at a very critical time in the life of the plan and we need to make important decisions at this stage as to whether we are going to increase the life to 2015,” he said.
According to Baksh, it would be the most feasible decision to extend the deadline to this time since the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are targeted for completion in that year.
“I am optimistic that within a year or two we will be equal to any country in the Caribbean,” Baksh asserted.

The Education Minister stressed the importance of ensuring that the systems of education adopted throughout the country contribute to raising the standards of living in Guyana.
He stated: “We need to improve the overall effectiveness of education to produce the kinds of results that will contribute to the overall moulding of children of this nation into good citizens.”
Baksh emphasised that the Education Strategic Plan has so far been driven by a strong vision focusing on several key areas, the most important of which is quality education.
“Everything we do speak to this and we are focusing on quality as a main area, it is a high priority throughout the world,” Baksh noted.
As one of the fundamental principles underlying the vision of the Ministry of Education’s strategic plan, quality of education is being provided to both teachers and students.
In this regard, the minister stressed that all of the programmes designed to promote this will succeed in upgrading the standard of teachers’ education across the country.
As to the benefits of this, he stated that as part of the plan, a monitoring and evaluation unit has been put in place to monitor the implementation and the attainment of certain goals outlined and the minister is calling on all of the stakeholders to work together to accomplish the task at hand.
The Strategic Plan also addresses the “bigger goals” of the education sector, including areas such as literacy, school health and nutrition as well as the assessment systems.
Baksh also took the opportunity to emphasise that more focus needs to be placed on Science and Technological Innovation as part of the overall Strategic Plan as this is a vital element in support of the Low Carbon development Strategy (LCDS) model.
He said: “We all must take this into account, curriculum changes are being made to ensure that the education sector responds to the requirements of the LCDS.”

Capacity Building
Baksh also addressed that issue of adequate human resources within the education sector.
He noted that such a dynamic document as the Education Strategic Plan requires a large level of involvement and strong capacity.
Baksh related: “This plan will not be able to progress unless we can have this and it will put a strain on the central ministry if the regional systems are lagging behind, we have to remedy this.”
Changes will also have to be made from within the Central Ministry as weaknesses have been identified here as well, he added.
“We cannot afford to fail in the implementation of the plan, so we have facilitated the attraction of 15 new persons with new ideas and new qualifications; this is an important step to building capacity within the ministry which in time will make a difference,” he affirmed.
In addition to this, Baksh said that all of the efforts being made and all of the programmes designed to meet the goals of the plan have not only attracted national acclaim but international recognition as well.
For this reason, he encouraged all of the stakeholders and education officials to keep up the good work and to utilise all of the information available at the end of the two-day consultation to return and effect the necessary changes with greater determination.
“With the investments made there must be results in the sector, the Government accepts that progress is being made,” he declared.
Meanwhile, Chief Planning Officer at the Ministry of Education, Ms. Evelyn Hamilton stressed the importance of monitoring and evaluation by all parties involved as this is the only way that the desired outcomes will be achieved.
It was early in 2009 that the minister had announced that the strategic plan (2008-2013) was accepted by Cabinet and the donor community.
With funding from government and a whopping $20.5M grant through the Education For All Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) it is anticipated that the goals of the plan will be reached within the specified timeframe.