EDUCATION Minister, Priya Manickchand on Wednesday informed members of the media that she now represents not only Guyana, but the entire Caribbean and Latin America on the board of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).
Speaking at a press conference in the boardroom of the ministry on Brickdam, Georgetown, Minister Manickchand said that this speaks to the country’s success in carrying out various education programmes, which were observed and assessed not only locally but internationally.
She explained that Guyana used to be an alternate board member on the GPE but was asked to represent the Caribbean and Latin America on the board.
Meanwhile, Manickchand attended a meeting of the Board of Directors of the GPE Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in Brussels, Belgium from May 20 to 22.
According to the GPE website, the items on the agenda for the meeting included the GPE’s financial forecast, implementation of the strategic plan, and the framework for operating in fragile and conflict-affected states and global and regional activities.
Arising from the meeting of the board, the GPE approved US$439 million in grants to 12 developing countries, providing critical funding and momentum towards quality education for all children, a GPE release stated.
According to the release, this new financing strongly reflects the Global Partnership’s top priorities: increasing access to basic education in fragile states, improving the quality of education, generating measurable results and championing girls’ education.
The GPE was launched in 2002 when the World Bank together with development partners to help low-income countries meet the education Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education For All (EFA) goals.
The World Bank website stated that funding for the GPE is channelled through existing bilateral and multilateral channels and through the GPE fund, which supports countries with insufficient resources to prepare and implement their education sector plans.
In its current strategic plan, the partnership has five strategic objectives. Two of these objectives, a dramatic increase in the number of children learning and demonstrating mastery of basic literacy and numeracy skills by Grade 3 and improving teacher effectiveness by various means are major priorities for Guyana.
