OFFICIALS from the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Learning Channel met with members of the media yesterday to offer clarifications on its establishment and operations following the publication of a controversial article in the Kaieteur News.

The Monday publication, under the headline ‘Learning Channel controversial contract…Jagdeo is guilty of insider trading to enrich friends- APNU’, accused former President Bharrat Jagdeo of nepotism.
It said he did so through contracting Television Guyana (TVG), owned by his best friend Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, to air it for a hefty sum of $3.6M monthly.
In the article, APNU Member of Parliament (MP) Joseph Harmon said this is a clear indication that Ramroop was privy to Government’s plan to establish the Learning Channel and, as such, made the necessary investments in the relevant technologies to air it via satellite.
Addressing the media in the boardroom of the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD), Minister Priya Manickchand stated that the ministry is very concerned about the coverage in certain sections of the press about the Guyana Learning Channel.
She said information has been twisted to disallow the garnering of the truth about the establishing of the channel.
Manickchand noted that the responsibility of the press is to be factual, truthful and not to prosecute their own personal agendas, irrespective of who the editors and owners of the media entities are.
She called on those in certain sections of the media to desist from personalising and politicising every single thing that comes their way, because they can.
According to her, the relationship between TVG and the Learning Channel was a necessity if they were to provide the services.
Manickchand said  the programmes shown on the channel help to develop Guyana equitably, helping to prepare the nation’s children for various examinations and demanded that an apology be issued to TVG, stating that it should be thanked for providing the services to the Learning Channel.
Head of the Multimedia Unit of the Learning Channel, Dr. Seeta Roath said, despite the hard work of the staff, there seems to be a deliberate effort to tarnish the image of the station and those involved in making the services possible.
“In the interest of educating our children, giving students, teachers and parents access to the kind of educational resources they need to compete in today’s world, let’s leave the Guyana Learning Channel to education and educators and politics to the politicians,” she appealed.
No other television
Declaring that there is no other television station in the Caribbean that broadcasts solely educational content,  Roath said they continuously receive feedback from students, teachers and parents alike, about how much students continue to benefit from the Guyana Learning Channel.
She said:“Teachers have indicated that, when they teach certain topics now, students take the discussion beyond just information gathering. They are actually adding critical and higher-order thinking to classroom discussions.”
Roath asserted that, all across Guyana and even across the world, persons have been finding ways of helping the Learning Channel with open resources and open access and these seemingly deliberate moves to discredit the station and those involved, are causing a major problem with current projects and those still on the drawing board.
She expressed gratitude to all those who have given their expertise, their facilities, especially both major telecommunications companies – Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Company (GT&T) and Digicel (Guyana), all for the cause of education and for the benefit of the nation’s children.
Roath pleaded with all members of the public to support them in keeping the Learning Channel on air and taking the content to children all over Guyana.
She disclosed that the Guyana Learning Channel is funded by the Government of Guyana, through the Education Ministry and the staff is working diligently to keep it on air with quality educational content.
Roath explained that, as Head of the Multimedia Unit of NCERD, in 2010, the then Education Minister Shaik Baksh mentioned that plans existed for the setting up of a television channel for educational purposes.
She made a proposal for a satellite television network that could reach all of Guyana and the entire western hemisphere, but was told that it was not a viable project, both technically and financially.
She said she was, literally, referred to as a “mad woman” and advised that, in Guyana, it was only possible to downlink (take stuff off of satellites), not uplink to satellites.
Roath said she searched for a technical resource person for advice and found Mr. Michael Forde, an engineering consultant and, along with the National Communications Network (NCN), they formed a set-up committee at NCERD.
She said Forde discovered that only TVG had designed and was in the process of deploying a satellite uplink teleport.
Experience or ability

It had the technical expertise, the finances and the design and since the committee found that neither NCERD nor NCN had the experience or ability to deploy a satellite-based solution, they decided that the Learning Channel would lease a slot on TVG’s satellite uplink.
The committee entered into discussions with TVG and a final agreement, which was concluded in 2010, requires TVG to provide the channel with a guaranteed satellite transport network service.
“This arrangement is stipulated in a legal service contract and, for a recurring cost of G$3.6M per month, gives the Learning Channel guaranteed reception anywhere in Guyana and, for that matter, South America and the Caribbean, regardless of weather conditions and requires TVG as the satellite service provider to maintain signal quality guarantees,” she related.
The Guyana Learning Channel is a non-commercial, apolitical, educational broadcast network, which was focused solely on education since it was started on April 1, 2011 and it strives to maintain 30-40 percent local content.
The channel has over 200,000 viewers and reaches far and wide in Guyana, including areas such as Annai, Lethem, Aishalton, Kwakwani, Port Kaituma and Mahdia.
Roath said the Guyana Learning Channel has 17 sites, which include the main office in the compound of NCERD.
There are 12 employees at the central office and one in each community in which it has offices, she offered.