New NCERD head has packed agenda in store

QUENITA Walrond-Lewis, the woman at the helm of the National Centre of Educational Resource Development (NCERD), is the epitome of class, confidence, passion, and drive. With such qualities, it’s not hard to imagine why she would constantly be streamlining new efforts to improve the efficiency of the organisation.

At just 40-years-old, Quenita has already acquired for herself an impressive track record of competence, diligence, and stability in her academic field and career.
She is a product of St. Margaret’s Primary; Sandford English Community School; Queen’s College; the University of Guyana; University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM); Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/ University of Toronto (OISE/UT)

Upon her return to Guyana after her studies, Quenita, a mother of four girls, began her local professional career at NCERD, where she worked with colleagues to reignite the then dormant Nursery Unit of the Curriculum Division of the entity. Today, this unit is one of the vibrant areas of the institution.
She describes her post at NCERD as “both an honour and privilege,” because she recognises the incontestable significance the institution holds for the propulsion of education development in Guyana.

At the moment, even as NCERD answers the call for a comprehensive response to the furtherance and provisioning of education delivery during extended school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Quenita sees her immediate priority for the institution as an aggressive drive to holistic curriculum reform.

“This is in both content – making the curriculum more streamlined and developmentally appropriate- and methodology, where teaching and learning take place in a fashion that is more student-centred and practical, where application and understanding trump recall and regurgitation,” she explained in an interview with Pepperpot Magazine recently.

Also at the top of her agenda is fortification of the institution through streamlining administrative processes that would make the agency more efficient and autonomous, along with strong advocacy for better emolument packages for the agency’s technical experts and thought leaders for their professional services.
“NCERD needs to be able to attract and retain the best and brightest resource personnel if it is to fulfil its mandate to be at the cutting edge, rather than the bleeding edge of education advancement,” she expressed.

Over the past seven years, Quenita has developed and co-created classroom-based assessment, monitoring and evaluation tools, and teaching resources to be used at the nursery, primary, and secondary levels by teachers, headteachers, and education officers.

She has also provided capacity-building experiences for in-service teachers and administrators, as well as education officers, to support their use of pedagogical best practices.
“NCERD is rightly described as the ‘nerve centre’ of the ministry, because it should be the locus of education innovation, research, and tangible solutions for driving positive education outcomes for learners throughout the country,” she said.

It is from the talented and dedicated educators at NCERD, informed by leading national, regional and international research and practice, that pedagogy and teaching methodologies are evaluated, she noted, adding that they are then shaped for the unique culture and context of Guyana, and ultimately used to enhance teaching and learning that would provide greater opportunities for students to succeed.

Quenita would someday like to be the boss of her own teaching and learning Early Childhood Development Institute; become a published children’s book author, and become a global ambassador for children’s rights and sustainable education development.
Married to her loving and supportive husband Philip Lewis, she is a cross-fit enthusiast and athlete and is very family-oriented.