–the hallmark of Guyana’s education sector
COPPING multiple regional awards, the roll out of the Guyana Online Learning Academy (GOAL), expansion of the Guyana Learning Channel into hinterland communities and the completion of the first school under the Guyana Secondary Education Improvement Project (GSEIP), are just a few of the many developments that marked yet another exceedingly active quarter for the education sector in Guyana.
The Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, continued to maintain her signature proactive and hands-on approach to the handling of this sector, as she crafted what might very well be Guyana’s best era in education.
The second quarter of the year built on and developed many of the declarations made in the first quarter of the year, but also had quite a few interesting adds-on.
The roll out of the of the “Quiz Me” and “Booster” programmes for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) students, who needed all the assistance they could get as they prepared to write their exams in very trying times, was indeed a big and welcomed development.
The holding of the first of two NGSA mock exams was also another good development, with the high turnout marking the eagerness of students to get back in their classrooms, and their dedication to doing their best in their exams.

One of biggest announcements of the quarter was the declaration that the Ministry of Education (MoE) is actively considering the reopening of schools come the new school year that starts in September, to bring an end to the physical closure of schools brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The MoE noted that the decision was based on the encouraging vaccination of citizens countrywide, weighed against the growing learning loss that the country and the rest of the world continues to encounter.

There is also the fact that many children are largely asymptomatic or unaffected by COVID-19. However, it remains to be seen how the most recent occurrence of a number of children being admitted to the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) would affect this decision going forward.
Thanks to the roll out of a vibrant campaign for GOAL, the programme received a whopping 8,800 applicants, almost twice the number of applications that can even be considered for this year. This is testimony to the hunger for education among Guyanese.
The programme is expected to offer 4,500 scholarships this year, with successful applicants expected to know their fate in the next quarter.
The programmes range from those that require no formal qualifications to Master’s degrees and post-graduate programmes, ensuring that it catered for the wide range of diverse educational background among Guyanese.

In addition to the GOAL scholarships, the ministry rolled out another partnership with Coursera that saw 800 Grow with Google Scholarships being offered to Guyanese.
The completion of the US$4.7 million Westminster Secondary was also a welcome relief for the West Demerara area specifically, and the education sector entirely, as it marked the first break from a pattern of issues with schools earmarked under the GSEIP.
The GSEIP also includes the Good Hope Secondary, on the East Coast of Demerara, and now the Prospect Secondary School on the East Bank of Demerara.
Another sigh of relief was felt when Guyana’s results for the 2020 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) were finally announced in May, after students and other stakeholders would’ve endured an over seven months long wait for the results.

But the wait was worth it and it was a proud moment when Guyanese learnt not only who the deserving top students were, but also learnt that, regionally, Guyana had won five of eight awards at CSEC and two of eight awards at CAPE.

There were also much investment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), with the signing of contracts at a number of Practical Instruction Centres (PIC).
However, notwithstanding the highs, the period was not without its lows, and the destruction of the North Ruimveldt Multilateral Secondary School by fire, on June 19, was a big blow for students, teachers and parents of that school.
The fire destroyed a section of the school which housed its first to fifth-form classrooms, Science, Home-Economics and Information Technology laboratories, as well as the school’s $3 million ‘smart’ classroom, the first to be launched in Guyana.
The situation greatly affected the students of the school, as it was merely days before the commencement of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) 2021 exams. However, thanks to quick action by the Ministry of Education, the students were afforded the opportunity to write their subjects at their school’s site.