MINISTER of Education Priya Manickchand yesterday received praise from A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament Amna Ally who, during the budget debates in the National Assembly, yesterday, said she believes in “giving credit where credit is due.”

Ally noted particularly that there has been improvement at the National Centre for Educational Research Development (NCERD) and more so, the exam operations at the examinations section of the centre.
Additionally, she highlighted the improvements of the Learning Channel and its programmes, adding that it is good when a minister can take on board and implement recommendations made in the National Assembly.
“I would like to offer congratulations to Minister Priya Manickchand for allocating a portion of professionalism…Thanks for accepting APNU’s recommendation,” she said.
However, the Shadow Minister of Education and Opposition Chief Whip proclaimed that the education system does have challenges that need to be overcome.
She declared that its focus is wrong since according to her, the government’s thinking on education is that the more money put on the system, the more improved it is.
She pointed out that there is an increase of over $2B allocated to the education sector in the 2013 budget, but stated that “we are not getting value for money”.
Ally noted that some $3B is budgeted to be spent on infrastructure and repairs and related that “a big chunk” of this is to construct new schools.
However, she said that she believes that the focus should be placed on repairing and maintaining existing schools, rather than building new ones.
Meanwhile, as it relates to teacher training, Ally claimed that government’s focus is on quantity and not quality. She stated that government often boasts of large numbers graduating, but added that if teachers are poorly trained then the children will also suffer.
She further questioned the Education Minister as to whether any assessment or analysis was done by professionals on the content of teacher training at regional centres, compared to that of the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).
According to her, the teachers trained at the regional centres are robbed of time for lecture series, exposure and opportunities, which contribute to poor quality of training across the centres.
In addition, she pointed out that government had recognised the dismal pass rate in English and Mathematics which was 31 percent, and made an intervention injecting some $80M in photocopied text books and geometry sets.
However, she advised that the pass rate was further reduced to 29 percent and stressed that this intervention was not the answer.
Ally recommended that such interventions should be made at the primary level and not the secondary level, so as to lay a good foundation.
Additionally, she stated that there is a shortage of competent lecturers in training facilities and said that this can be solved by improved training and significant increase in their remunerations.
Meanwhile, she noted that government has been touting developmental projects, such as the Marriott and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) expansion project. However, she claimed that the education system is not geared to prepare anyone for these developmental projects.
“Let us not create the scenario of exam-oriented students only, but let us build on making our children functional in today’s society,” she emphasised.
She highlighted the importance of technical and vocational training centres and proposed that such institutions be established in Regions 1, 7, 8 and 9.
She further stated that schools across the ten administrative regions are overwhelmed with problems of drop-outs, vandalism, crime, drug abuse and violence, asking the Education Minister if there is a plan by the ministry to grapple with these problems.
Ally noted that the People’s National Congress (PNC) had introduced Guidance and Counselling as a compulsory subject in schools and stressed that this can help to “mould our children’s children.”
Moreover, she related that the University of Guyana has been allocated $1.7B in the budget, including $450M for loans, adding that the university loan scheme is still to be operationalised as a revolving loan scheme.
She further pointed out that there have been talks of raising tuition fees, but urged the government to relinquish the idea of any hike of the fees.
“The Finance Minister alluded to an increase of 4.8% in his budget presentation which illustrates that Guyana is doing well…this government must not increase the fees for our young people to be denied tertiary education at the University of Guyana,” she said.