— says Minister Manickchand

THE Ministry of Education continued its national consultation exercise at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) on Friday, engaging persons from various organisations and government agencies.

The consultations which first began on Tuesday last are being held to determine short, medium, and long-term measures to provide quality education to all learners.

The consultations are part of a series going on around the world as countries, particularly member states of the United Nations, discuss recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and how the sector can be re-imagined generally.

The consultation exercise, which is being held across the country, is expected to address activities in five critical areas: inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools; learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development; teachers, teaching and the teaching profession; digital learning and transformation; and financing of education

On Tuesday, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand met with representatives from the National Interim Parent Teacher Association body, while on Thursday, she engaged migrant and re-migrant parents and children of Region Three at the Leonora Secondary School.

Manickchand has continued to emphasise to participants the importance of the consultation exercise in the ministry crafting a way forward for the education sector.

Speaking on Friday at ACCC, Minister Manickchand underscored that the pandemic has affected the sector tremendously. She said that COVID-19 taught the world that no education system was resilient enough to withstand the impact of such a pandemic.

“The most developed countries found themselves unprepared to move into any kind of learning effectively,” Minister Manickchand noted, according to a statement issued by the ministry.

According to the statement, Minister Manickchand said that the intention is to hear from the representatives from an institutional standpoint, as well as their individual perspectives.

Also commenting on the consultation exercise, Director of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), Quenita Walrond-Lewis, noted that the five critical areas the consultation is focusing on are framed around the five pillars of the Ministry’s Strategic Plan 2021-2025.

Chief Education Officer Dr Marcel Hutson said that innovation and creativity must be brought sharply into focus if the sector is to be transformed. He added that all stakeholders must work as a team in order to achieve the transformation necessary for the sector to move forward. He said that the concept of synergy cannot be overlooked.