Baksh announces move from teacher-friendly to children-friendly school environment
THE Schools Welfare Service of the Education Ministry  awarded 1, 600 children from nursery, primary and secondary schools, on Tuesday, for at least 98 percent attendance rate, during the last academic year (September 2010- September 2011.) The ceremony, held at the National Cultural Centre, formed part of the activities for Education Month, celebrated this year under the theme ‘Transforming Guyana through Science and Technology in Education’.
Addressing the students and teachers gathered there, Education Minister Shaik Baksh noted that the Government of Guyana, in its bid to encourage higher attendance rates, has been injecting huge amounts of money to formulate programmes and policies to support this drive.
These include the $1.5 billion Schools Feeding Programme that he said has already accelerated attendance rates in various schools.
“I would like to see this sum increased to bring benefits to even more students,” he said.
The National School Uniform Assistance Programme is another initiative designed to improve attendance rates, by seeking to ensure every child is afforded the opportunity to access education, with the provision of one school uniform during the year, Minister Baksh added.
In 2010, an investment of $500M was made by the Government to provide assistance to 200,000 nursery, primary and secondary students; thereby ensuring that every child has a school uniform to attend school.
The project was introduced in 2003 to boost school attendance in rural, riverine and hinterland communities but was expanded to accommodate every school-aged child countrywide.
As to other such programmes, the Education Minister said, “We also provide assistance with transportation in hinterland areas, where students have to get to school by boats; we have provided boats and engines to assist them.”
In addition, the Ministry of Education is also providing a shuttle service in some regions, particularly for students who live along the Linden/Soesdyke Highway, in Kuru Kuru and Dora.
This, Baksh said, is necessary as many of these students cannot afford to travel to school and would otherwise be forced to stay at home.
“We will continue to do this so that children can go to school regularly. This is important because when they attend school regularly they will be able to complete the curriculum at each stage and remember the inputs to make the transition to another level, in a more meaningful way,” he stressed.
Another important Government scheme is the Child-Friendly Schools Programme, supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which aims to improve quality education in Guyana and at the same time strengthening and expanding the school-friendly model.
The Child Friendly School Model encourages schools to operate in the best interest of children, where the educational environments are safe, healthy and protective, classrooms are provided with trained teachers and adequate resources while at the same time children’s rights are protected and their voices heard.
“We are moving from teacher centred to children centred,” the Education Minister asserted.
He called on all teachers in the school system to be more “dedicated and committed” to the task at hand and to ensure that their attendance rates are also maintained, in an effort to increase that attendance rate to 90 percent, next year.

SCHOOL DROP OUTS
Through the implementation of these programmes, education in Guyana is being transformed for the benefit of all children, Minister Baksh stated.
As testimony to this, school dropout rates have decreased by half over the past five years, a direct result of government implemented programmes.
Alluding to the impact of these, he explained, “We have many other programmes set up, including the School Welfare Programme and the Guidance Counselling Services…. through these we have the records to show we have less dropout rates from 12 percent five years ago to six (6) percent now and we are working hard to ensure that students complete school at all levels … we want every single child to reach his/her true potential.”
The minister emphasized that one of the most important mechanisms of improving the delivery of quality education to the nation, is the US$30M One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative, which increases the access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and under which over 4000 teachers have already received training.
In closing, Minister Baksh congratulated the students, teachers and parents for attaining the 98 percent attendance rate.
“It is important to celebrate and to send the message that attendance at school will ensure that Guyana remains beautiful,” Baksh said.
Those students attaining 98 percent and above attendance rates were awarded with certificates and plaques in recognition of their achievement.
The first Nursery School rewarded was, Starter’s Nursery followed by St. Gabriel’s Primary and Cummings Lodge Secondary School.