–to addressing shortcomings in education sector

THE Ministry of Education (MOE) has developed a comprehensive implementation plan relative to the 83 recommendations made by the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the state of the country’s education sector.
The plan seeks to address the recommendations in the short, medium and long-term, and where possible will be integrated into the Education Sector Plan. Subject Minister, Nicolette Henry told the Guyana Chronicle on Friday that in a bid to complete over 80 per cent of her ministry’s mandate, she has to divide up her approach.

Fourteen per cent of the recommendations made by the COI address general issues in the education sector, the minister said.
Of the remaining 86 per cent, 16 has to with matters at the nursery school level; 50 with management and operations; 15 with primary and secondary schools; and three with Information Communication Technology (ICT).
“What we did,” Minister Henry said, “we looked at those recommendations and we aligned them first of all with the Education Sector Plan which is dated 2014-2018, and we have worked out to determine how many of those are in alignment with that plan. We will integrate those into the plan.”

She said, too, that those recommendations that are not aligned to the plan, will be examined in greater detail when the ministry is reviewing the Education Sector Plan in 2018, when it expires, to determine the strategic plan for the next five years.
Meanwhile, in its recommendation, the COI stressed the need for the MOE to re-establish and foster a greater collaboration with the University of Guyana (UG) in the area of research.

“The Ministry should provide the University with ‘Areas’/‘Topics’ that need investigating so that the decisions of the Ministry can be more informed by research,” the report stated.
Minister Henry said that since her ministry does not have enough data point to begin implementing some of those recommendations, some would be sent to UG as research questions to be dealt with by students at the Masters and PhD levels.
“They will provide us with the necessary data points to move that forward,” she said, while giving assurance that her ministry has developed a comprehensive implementation plan for the COI.

In the case of infrastructural works, the members of the COI, which included Chairman Ed Caesaar, Ronald Austin Jr, Jennifer Dewar, Lance Hinds and Ramesh Persaud, along with Suelle Findlay-Williams, Clayton Hinds and Kelly-Ann Payne-Hercules, dwelt particularly on the state of school buildings.
In fact, the members in their report said the school buildings are in “acute disrepair” and in some cases are too small for their student population, which has grown in many cases by 100 per cent since the school was first built.

“In some cases, new schools have been built without any consideration given to ventilation, and no consultation with the teaching staff or HM. Running water, plumbing and sanitary blocks are also major issues, both with schools and teachers’ quarters. An ongoing maintenance system needs to be put in place for every school,” the COI report stated.
As such, it was recommended that there is a need for a countrywide survey to be embarked on to determine where new schools and dorms are needed, and where schools should be merged and even de-gazetted.
Given the recommendations, Minister Henry made it clear that in the short term, focus would be placed on infrastructural needs, while during the July/August school break, the MOE will conduct an infrastructural audit of all public schools to determine how they are, in terms of building needs.

The assessment will be placed into four categories, including those which require immediate rehabilitation and those which don’t. “That would inform our selection of schools for maintenance and rehabilitation works,” Minister Henry said, adding: “We will partner with the University to have students at the post-secondary and tertiary institutions who have civil capacity to be part of that survey.
“So we expect that data by the third week of August to inform our programme implementation for civil works. That is key.”