THE Education Ministry, as part of its Education Month 2013 observance, yesterday, launched two major initiatives called ‘Give a Book’ and ‘Drop Everything and Read’.

The efforts saw Guyanese from all of walks of life contributing to the national drive to raise awareness of the importance of reading, primarily among young people.
Tents were set up at the Ministry’s Lots 26 and 68 Brickdam, Georgetown branch offices, as well as strategic locations in other places in the city, such as Stabroek Market, the National Library and Camp and Regent Streets, where the ministry distributed hundreds of books to members of the general public, to encourage persons to give a book to someone else and persuade them to read.
The two activities form a part of the ministry’s month long calendar themed ‘Transforming Classrooms for the 21st Century’ and to observe International Literacy Day 2013 which was observed on Sunday.
Education Minister, Ms. Priya Manickchand, before going to the various locations to interact with the public and assist with the distribution, made a stop at her alma mater, Stella Maris Primary, where the ministry donated grade specific books.
She took to the carpet in the school’s literacy corner to listen to other students read and one young male recite a poem about literacy.

COLLABORATIVE EFFORT
The children present represented all classes in the school and, in her address to them, Manickchand emphasised that the process of educating is a collaborative effort and all of the partners have a role to play.
“It is the Government who must be interested in making sure you are educated; it is the Ministry of Education which has to put out the policies and programmes, then it is your teachers who have to come and teach and then we have parents who must do their part to be good parents and then there is you,” she explained to the children gathered.
Manickchand likened the procedure to that of a relay race, where, if there is one weak leg, then the whole race will be lost.
According to her, the full commitment of the teachers is needed and the students must be disciplined and respectful to their teachers, be punctual, study, pay attention to what their teachers are teaching and also stay a bit longer to get their work completed if the necessity arises.
Manickchand also stated that parents are full partners with the ministry, as they are the first teachers children will ever encounter as well as the most influential persons in their children’s lives and must do what is in the best interest of their children.
She assured that the Government of Guyana has the education of the nation’s children very high on its list of priorities, indicating that the sector is allocated the most money and translates into the ministry being able to produce services.
Manickchand said that, as the Minister of Education, she commits to her ministry working very hard to bring to the students all that is necessary and change what needs to be changed.
Alluding to the Ministry’s ‘Give a Book’ and ‘Drop Everything and Read’ actions, she explained that those are only the beginning of something the ministry wants to see happening every day.
She asked the students to promise her that they would read every day for at least 15 minutes and urged them to give examples of what they would be reading, to which some listed – novels, story books, newspaper articles and text books.

TOP POSITIONS
According to her, Stella Maris Primary is just one of the schools at which special attention will be paid to ensure that it returns to the days when students from there dominated the top positions at then ‘Common Entrance’ examination, now called the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).
Teachers, parents and members of the Parent/Teachers Association (PTA) were also on hand to witness the handing over of books to the school.
Meanwhile, at 11:00hrs, the ‘Drop Everything and Read’ found the media, including television and radio stations interrupting their regular programming to broadcast reading materials.
At the National Communications Network (NCN) on Homestretch Avenue, in the city,  too, a pre-recorded literacy message from President Donald Ramotar was aired and Manickchand read live, on air, an excerpt from the 1927 prose poem ‘Desiderata’ which was written by American writer Max Ehrmann.
Speaking to the media, Manickchand expressed satisfaction about the response to the occasion received by her ministry, noting that the drive has caught on in a way that they did not imagine when they first came up with the ideas.
She said she is extremely inspired by the clear indication that the Ministry did something that Guyana wanted.
Manickchand acknowledged that the onus is on her ministry to make sure they unveil a 2014 literacy plan, which will see them raising the rate of literacy all across the country, not only in classrooms but also amongst adults.
She said the ministry is, presently, working on it and they have to devise ways in which they can make their programmes accessible.

STILL GARNERING
Manickchand said, further, that the ministry also recognises the importance of the input of members of the public, which they are still garnering.
She noted that ‘Give a Book’ and ‘Drop Everything and Read’ are not only being done in the capital but she is unaware if it is on such a large scale in other places.
The minister admitted that the challenge is theirs to ensure that, next year, the exercises reach as far and wide as possible in Guyana.
She assured that yesterday’s activities were not going to be a ‘one time’ but they are going to be putting their heads together to come up with programmes which will see Guyana raising its literacy rate.