Baksh announces plans for compulsory pre-primary education
EDUCATION Minister Shaik Baksh said yesterday that, at the end of the 2013 strategic plan, through compulsory legislation, all children are expected to be benefitting from pre-primary (advanced nursery) education. He made the announcement while addressing parents, teachers and pupils at the commissioning of the Sophia Nursery School, in ‘C’ Field, Greater Georgetown.
“Through legislation, all parents will have to send their children to school at three years nine months and, with this drive, there will be a continuous building process of schools throughout the country,” Baksh said.
He reported that surveys carried out show that Guyana has reached an overall pass rate of 85 percent in Early Childhood Care in Education (EECE) as opposed to 40 and 50 percent rates in other various countries worldwide.
The minister said that, while Guyana has emerged as a leader in Information Communication Technology (ICT) and shown outstanding performances in the education sector, the country has also been recognised for its leadership role in ECCE.
With this in mind, Baksh said that emphasis will be placed on early childhood education, as it has proven to be one of the main reasons for the successes of excellence in the sector.
He noted that children are the leaders of tomorrow and said no child will be left behind in this period when the country is moving to the top notch in the sector.
“The presentation today shows excellent development of children…early childhood care is being promoted all over the world and Guyana is leading in this. Eighty-five percent of the children within the age have accessed the preparatory education,” Baksh said.
The minister said that the education sector has already begun to make changes to the strategic plan to have ECCE included, since the development of a child depends a lot on early childhood learning.
He said that works are in the pipelines to have the necessary implementations undertaken to make the various changes needed, for the advancement in this regard and they have been showing positive results.

Making changes
“Already we have started making changes. The last term we had said that we would start advancing children to a higher level, so when they go over to grades one and two they will already know how to read properly,” Baksh stated.
He said, ‘today a reader, tomorrow a leader’ is the goal of the ministry to ensure that all children have the opportunity of reaching the level of being leaders of tomorrow thus representing Guyana well in all they do.
Baksh added that, if a child is encouraged to read on a daily basis, it will definitely make a huge difference in their lives and the country.
“When a child comes out of a school literate, that can bring with it a whole new aspect of things in a positive way,” he pointed out.
Baksh said that it is only wise to have these strategies undertaken as early as possible, as good preparation brings excellence with it.
The minister said, once a child is prepared and is one step ahead of things, the task in the future will be much easier to self development.
“When a child leaves pre-primary, the child will be developing at a fast pace with good preparation…the rates at which they are excelling would seem somewhat unbelievable but it can be accomplished,” he posited.
The minister told teachers they have a significant role to play in the developmental process of the lives of the children and it should be extended from the heart.
He reminded teachers that they are given the task of inspiring the minds of the upcoming generation and, as such, they should remain committed in fulfilling the job that is ahead of them.
Baksh commended parents for the good works that they have been doing in ensuring that the children of the community are benefitting from education being provided by the government.
Additionally, he urged the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) to continue with the good work that they have been doing with the school and encouraged them to work toward building stronger partnerships among themselves since this is a key area in development.
“As we commission this school, expansion is already being focused upon and, as it grows, we will have all the necessary resources being made available to you, we already have the land for expansion,” Baksh assured.
He acknowledged that the ministry is hard pressed and, as such, there will be the implementation of measures to deal directly with ECCE.

Parental education
“We will also be focusing on parental education since it can play a strong role in developing the minds of persons,” Baksh stated.
He commended the parents for coming on board with education and urged them to keep up the good works.
“I am heartened by the attendance of the parents at the day’s commissioning. It brings with it much enthusiasm and encouragement…if this can be maintained, it will all go well for education,” Baksh agreed.
He said that, earlier, he would not have envisaged the growth of the school and the attendance rate.
Baksh admitted: “When we planned to build this school, we had only catered for a population of 120. It was not planned to be a very large school since many persons had lacked the confidence in it. However, with perseverance, the leadership was able to remain dedicated.
“It was only with the support of these teachers that this was possible,” he said.
Education Officer, Marcel Hutson said, over the years, the population of children at the nursery school in ‘A’ Field was growing rapidly and, as a result, the ministry conducted a feasibility of the ‘C’ Field area and, having correctly analysed the data, a decision was made for a new school to be built to serve the community in‘C’ Field.
He continued: “Given the geographic spread of the area, it was seen that the school in the ‘C’ Field, Sophia, was not enough and, as such, plans were made for the construction of another school.”
Hutson said it is his belief that there is a great future for the school and he challenged the staff to continue working assiduously in promoting best practices, as he believes that this school will be the nurturing ground of great minds.
Headmistress Ivy Lyte said it was a memorable occasion for the school.”I am overwhelmed that all of you here recognise the efforts of education and it is the aspiration to become the most demanding when it comes to placement of children.
“We are grateful for the support that we have been receiving and we are urging the parents to continue since it helps a lot in the development of the school,” she offered.
The school was constructed at a cost of $16.4M in time for the new term.
It opened its doors with 75 children but now has 172 from within the community.