EDUCATION again has taken the largest slice of the national budget, some $43.1B or 17.2 per cent of the budget, as Government places increased emphasis on the delivery of quality education across all levels.
Included in this allocation is a sum of $1.9B for the School Feeding Programme and $578 million to purchase textbooks. Together with the President’s 5 Bs Programme, these measures are expected to result in improved attendance, attentiveness, and productivity.
In a bid to address issues of overcrowding and facilities’ improvements, over $3.5B has been allocated to construct, extend, rehabilitate and maintain schools, teachers’ quarters and other buildings.
Within this, several new schools are slated for completion, including Yurong Paru Nursery and Hiowa Nursery in Region Nine, Bamia Nursery and Primary in Region 10, and Baramita Nursery in Region One.
Also this year, a total of 481 trained teachers were added to the pool of qualified teachers in the public school system.
“In 2017, we will aim to add another 600 to afford each student increased quality contact time. Furthermore, we will step up distribution of 61 computers under the One Laptop per Teacher Initiative, which was launched this year,” Finance Minister Winston Jordan told the National Assembly in his budget presentation on Monday.
He said approximately 9,500 laptops will be distributed to teachers countrywide to improve classroom instruction and productivity.
And in the area of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), about $2.4B will be invested in the coming years to improve learning outcomes of students, at the secondary level, with the aim of expanding the pool of employable, certified labour that can adequately bridge the skills gap.
This investment will see the expansion of TVET programmes into four hinterland regions. Special focus will be placed on improving access for persons with disabilities. Next year, $2.5B is allocated for TVET interventions countrywide.
DEPRESSING
Looking specifically at Mathematics and English, Jordan said this year, the Mathematics and English Language results at the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) examination and, more particularly, the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), were very depressing.
And the results for English and Mathematics, at the Grade 6 levels, were distressingly alarming, he told the House.
“Our 10 and 11 year old boys and girls took tests on core subjects, which resulted in 14 per cent passing Mathematics, revealing that over 12,000 of our children were not numerate, while more than half of those writing English could not sufficiently comprehend our official language to attain a 50 percent score. This is a crisis!” he said.
But, he noted that Government has wasted no time in tackling this crisis head-on.
In the near and medium terms, interventions to address the problem include implementing the $337.4M Programme for Emergency Education Reform (PEER), which provides an initial and rapid response that will: i) administer diagnostic and needs assessments across the country for school, class, and child; ii) recruit and retain mathematics specialists; iii) train school administrators for improved monitoring; iv) train teachers in content and methodology; v) roll out a parent involvement strategy in every region; and vi) expand immediately, the number of class periods assigned to mathematics at both the primary and secondary levels beyond the existing meagre four periods; (vii) Commencing and completing the curriculum reform across the entire public education system.; and (viii) accelerating the development of appropriate job descriptions and commensurate remuneration packages, in order to attract specialists and relevant personnel, in conjunction with the Public Service Department and the 60 Public and Teaching Service Commissions, to fill critical human resource gaps across the country by mid-2017.
Also, in keeping with Government’s commitment to ensure that all sectors incorporate the fundamentals of a green economy, the Ministry of Education has partnered with the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) to reduce the usage and cost of electricity in schools, having conducted energy assessments at 29 secondary schools.
“We have rehabilitated 1,870 watts of photovoltaic systems and installed systems at selected schools in the hinterland regions, so as to facilitate the resumption of the Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) programmes and improve lighting in these schools.”
UG
Turning his attention to the University of Guyana (UG), Jordan said the country’s premier institution remains critical to enhancing the human capital stock necessary for the diversification and ‘greening’ of the economy.
“We look forward to the on-going repositioning of the university and the efforts to generate revenues and pursue investments that will create a more financially sustainable institution. In 2017, the Government will allocate $2.9B to support the university operations and construct a teaching and learning complex for mathematics and science,” he said.
The Student Loan Agency will also be restructured to ensure institutional sustainability; achieve efficiency in processing of student loans; enable an electronic database to improve client interactions; and improve customer service.
“Mr. Speaker, increased financial allocations alone will not suffice to transform our sector, if teachers are either unpunctual, are frequently absent from classes, or when they do show up for classes, are deficient in classroom instruction and management; It will not suffice if parents are not investing their time and effort to support learning outcomes; It will not suffice if a head teacher fails to care and to supervise,” the finance minister told the House.
