EDUCATION Minister Sonia Parag, on Wednesday, met with headteachers from schools across Region Three to discuss challenges affecting education delivery and identify measures to improve outcomes for students.
The engagement in the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara region focused on several key concerns, including violence and bullying in schools, infrastructural needs and teacher performance.
The meeting forms part of Minister Parag’s commitment to engaging directly with school leaders across the country as the Ministry of Education works to strengthen the delivery of education.
Parag said she intends to meet with headteachers from each of Guyana’s 1,222 public schools, while also seeking to engage with as many Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) as possible.
“We are all part of this education ecosystem and so if we don’t engage and work together, it is our children who will be affected and we absolutely cannot have that,” Parag said.
The minister used the engagements to hear concerns from school leaders and discuss ways in which the Ministry and educators can work together to address issues affecting students and teachers.
She was accompanied by the Ministry’s Chief Planning Officer, Mischka White-Griffith; Assistant Chief Education Officer (Secondary), Sherwyn Blackman and Regional Education Officer, Akbar Chindu.
The Region Three meeting is part of a wider series of consultations with headteachers as the ministry seeks greater collaboration among education stakeholders and a more direct understanding of challenges at the school level.