THE World Bank has commended the works of the Ministry of Education and reaffirmed its commitment to providing further assistance, during a courtesy call on Minister of Education Nicolette Henry, on Monday.

Visiting the department’s Brickdam office were World Bank Regional Director, Tahseen Sayed Khan; Country Manager for Guyana and Jamaica, Galina Sotirova; Senior Country Officer for Guyana and Suriname, Pierre Nadji and World Bank Education Specialist for the Caribbean, Hongyu Yang.

The World Bank noted that its funded projects conducted by the ministry are now moving at a much faster rate under the guidance of Minister Henry.
The officials expressed satisfaction with the relations shared between the two parties and assured Henry that future support will be rendered should the Ministry request it.
Regional Director Tahseen Khan, updated that plans are going smoothly for a Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) to be done in Guyana, in addition to the production of a Country Strategy.

The SCD is aimed at identifying key challenges and opportunities for a country to accelerate development while the Country Strategy provides strategic framework for engagement with the country.

Khan assured that the Education Ministry will be included within the SCD which will help the World Bank to identify and correct weak areas in the education system and provide further assistance.

Another matter discussed was the World Bank-funded Secondary School Improvement Project (SSIP) recently launched in the country. its progress was also applauded by the officials.

Meanwhile, Minster Henry took the opportunity to highlight the need for additional attention to be placed on the Special Education Needs (SEN) programme which the Ministry is actively pursuing.

Just last month, the SEN Unit hosted a public awareness programme to shed light on the challenges of children faced with autism spectrum disorder.
The representatives noted this interest and participated in discussions on how the financial institution can better assist the Ministry through technical support in the areas of training, project management and implementation.

In addition, Khan acknowledged that Guyana’s unique terrain presents challenges to the use of technology in the delivery of education and affirmed her commitment to ensuring that companies within the ‘Silicon Valley’, a term synonymous to ‘high-technology areas’, can assist.