Written by Chriseana Ramrekha
The Education Ministry is currently diagnosing where the Guyanese student population stands in an effort to craft the 2014 literacy plan of action with the goal of working with everyone to fulfil to every citizen the right of literacy.

This is according to Education Minister Priya Manickchand, who Thursday reiterated to the members of the media the importance of ensuring that all Guyanese children leave school with the ability to read.
Manickchand emphasised that it is not just about the development of the plan, but educators also have to determine how they are going to deliver the curriculum in schools and do assessments to ensure that children are where they should be.
According to her, they have an ambition that each child at Grade Four will know how to read and they are in the process of preparing materials.
She related that very shortly the ministry will be launching a brand new set of materials called the ‘Roraima Readers’ that they have written over the past few months and which will be nursery materials.
Manickchand pointed out that it is expensive to buy books which are being sold by publishers in first world countries.
On the occasion of International World Literacy Day 2013, on Sunday September 8, Manickchand, in her message, had revealed that the Government of Guyana and the Ministry of Education is committed to unveiling a 2014 literacy plan of action and projected results.
She had explained that it is even more urgent that citizens acquire and master the tenets of basic literacy skills and strengthen and expand these skills throughout their lives.
Manickchand emphasised that a national literacy programme must be crafted and implemented with a view to making each Guyanese citizen of every age, of every background, of every persuasion able to enhance their individual lives by being able to read and write.
She had also extended an invitation to all Guyanese, including those within the government and across Parliament to the Opposition camps, to civic organisations, community and religious leaders, parents, and business leaders for cooperation to achieve this task.