–urges them to be their child’s first teacher

MINISTER of Education Priya Manickchand on Tuesday interacted with several parents of first-time schoolchildren at a PTA meeting.

The meeting was attended by Assistant Chief Education Officer Ms. Ingrid Trotman, Headmistress and teachers of the South Road Nursery School, and approximately 67 parents of children who will be attending that institution.
Speaking at the meeting on Tuesday, Minister Manickchand urged the parents to be their child’s first teacher. She said that every parent must teach their children the alphabet, basic colours and shapes, and to identify letters before they enter school.
She further advised the parents to spend lots of time with their children, using articles at home to teach them, and to take them on outings and to teach them to name places.
“Taking your children to the zoo, museum, park and seawalls will boost your children’s learning skills, get your children to exercise, let them watch educational movies and most important teach them both their names and your names,” Minister Manickchand told the parents.
She told the gathering that the Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Education has put a lot in place for the students, such as the Learning Channel, snacks, textbooks, exercise books, trained teachers and the new $10,000 vouchers which would be distributed before the new school year starts.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education is urging parents and guardians of children who are now entering nursery school to make a special effort to attend a Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meeting that will be arranged by the schools to which the children are placed.
The schedule for PTA meetings in Georgetown are as follows. Persons in the other regions are asked to check with the school at which the child was placed in their respective region.

(By Asif Hakim)