A NUMBER of new ideas that may come in handy to the Ministry of Education has been received during the recent government outreach to Fort Wellington, Region Five (Mahaica/Berbice).

Education Minister, Nicolette Henry, made the observation when she spoke with this publication at the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) Compound, where the outreach was being held last week.

“This visit seems to be one that would bear a lot of fruit. We did get some persons coming to the booth with some new ideas that may very well work,” the minister said, adding that she was pleased to see that many were also approaching the booth to pledge the donation of items. She said this was unusual as no one pledged to give anything at the previous outreaches.

One of the suggestions received was for the Education Ministry to collaborate more fully with the Ministry of Communities when certain projects are being undertaken. “We need to look to see how we can collaborate better…these ministries function as separate entities, but I can see opportunities and potential in that suggestion,” the minister said.

Another suggestion, she said, had to do with supervision during examinations and the role that teachers can play. “Usually this is a responsibility largely undertaken by invigilators, so I heard of suggestions where we can have greater teacher involvement at that level.”
“There were many other suggestions in the previous outreaches; people were coming forward with things they felt they could provide input to…whether it was school feeding, transportation issues, materials, ICT… people had their own personal issues,” the minister informed, adding that some made requests for the building of schools, especially secondary schools.

Henry said she found it strange that many show up to her ministry looking for scholarships, even though these are handled through the Ministry of Public Service.
Meanwhile, residents turned up at the said outreach in their quest to access services within the Ministries of Agriculture, Communities, Health, Education, Public Telecommunication, Presidency, Finance, Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Public Infrastructure, Social Cohesion, Social Protection, Legal Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Business.

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) were other agencies on hand to address key concerns by residents.

Former Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, said the turnout that day was encouraging. “People are responding to these outreaches, and what it means, is that, taking the government to the people is a very important aspect of the way in which we conduct government business,” he told the Guyana Chronicle.

He said the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government intends to take the ‘Bringing Government to the People’ outreach across the country, and that upon the conclusion of all the outreaches, the information garnered would be analysed and solutions devised to ensure that the concerns of citizens are addressed.