— says on-line programme that benefitted five Coalition ministers will now benefit 4,500+ students

WITH on-line learning moving from just an alternative form of acquiring knowledge outside of a physical space to a mandatory element of delivering education because of a pervasive pandemic, the Ministry of Education has committed to investing in electronic mechanisms, with $1 billion already being set aside for a national on-line learning institute.
Through this programme, which is catered for in the government’s proposed $383.1 billion Budget 2021, over 4,500 Guyanese will be able to access and benefit from undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD courses, delivered by accredited and internationally recognised universities.
This programme, while not new, had benefitted only senior government functionaries of the former A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition administration, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand argued during her presentation on day three of the budget debate.

“The programmes we have are available through the Indira Gandhi National Open University, UWI Open Campus and the International University of Applied Sciences in Germany. It will be benefiting 4,540 students just this year. It had benefited five ministers [APNU+AFC], but we serve the people without apology,” Minister Manickchand said in her dynamic presentation.
Moments before the minister presented this and other “big plans” for the sector, former Education Minister Nicolette Henry, in an attempt to defend the previous administration’s track-record, said the coalition had planted seeds which she is very proud of.
Among those seeds which the minister boasted of planting was the initiation of on-line training for teachers through the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the ProFuturo Foundation.

But, like a farmer on a sunny day, Minister Manickchand was evidently ready to uproot those ‘seeds’ and showcase the fruits of her own labour.
“On the issue of the APNU+AFC starting projects, their problem is just that they are fancy talkers. Everything sounds right, but their problem is they cannot deliver,” Manickchand argued, noting that the ProFuturo project was implemented by the new government.
She went on to criticise the former administration, particularly Henry, by saying: “Henry was unable to deliver on any project…all the projects you started we are rolling them out now. You could not get it done… this budget demonstrates clearly a difference in sight, philosophy and ideology between the parties.”
Minister Manickchand even went as far as to call out the Coalition for their untruth about a project that was not initiated by their administration — the smart classroom project.

ERRONEOUS CLAIM
The Coalition had claimed that 11 schools were equipped with smart classrooms, but the education minister quickly dismantled this ‘falsity,’ by saying: “That is not true… we got about setting up those classrooms… the classrooms did not exist, the teachers said they did not exist, the students said they did not exist, we are insisting that the smart classrooms do not exist. It is important we do not buy into those fibs.”
From dispelling untruths, Minister Manickchand switched her attention to Henry’s contention that Budget 2021 does not cater for sustainable management of COVID-19, particularly in the education sector.
Contrary to Henry’s claims, the minister said measures to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 were instituted since the passage of Budget 2020, in September last year.

“The Budget [2021] caters for the continuation [of these measures],” Minister Manickchand said, adding that one of the first initiatives was the increased utilisation of the learning channel.
The same resources were available to the Coalition, but it took a new government to effectively utilise those resources in a pandemic, she said.
To further expand the reach of those resources, particularly the learning channel, the Education Ministry has budgeted $500 million for this institution. This allocation will cater for the creation of six additional learning channels.
“We will take it to every single Amerindian village… We have given them television sets, solar panels and lights… it is something we do that is tangible,” Manickchand said.

To further extend their reach, the ministry will be establishing its own radio station, since there are communities which still depend on this medium for information.
Specific to measures aimed at mitigating the effects of COVID-19, the ministry plans to increase its production of worksheets and training of teachers.
Minister Manickchand said $150 million has also been allocated for virtual training programmes for teachers.
“Five years from now we will churn out the most trained teachers… we have now the most persons enrolled to go and train to become teachers,” the minister said.