Education Minister Priya Manickchand said her ministry performed well in 2013 and the Donald Ramotar administration is hoping to achieve universal access to secondary education in Guyana by 2016.
Manickchand made the comment during her end-of-year press conference held at Cara Lodge, Quamina Street, Georgetown on Monday.
The education minister said the universal access to secondary education goal will be made possible through the strong efforts undertaken by her ministry to improve access to education at all levels and improving the quality of education being delivered.
Secondary education
“We intend to achieve universal secondary education before the first term of the Donald Ramotar administration ends. That means that students across the country that are of secondary age can access general secondary education,” Manickchand stated.
The education minister opined that universal secondary education has been achieved in many regions but more work has to be done, particularly in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine. Guyana has already achieved universal primary education.
Meanwhile, in reflecting on the achievements made in the sector in 2013, the minister said it would be difficult to single out which was the most outstanding.
Manichand believes that the work undertaken during the course of the year was remarkable, giving her ministry a rating of seven on a scale of 10.
Educational level
This aside, the minister said two different studies were conducted to ascertain the educational level of pupils across the country at primary schools.
“We created tests across the grade and administered those tests across the country, to determine where it is children are… regarding meeting international literacy standards,” Manickchand stated.
The findings of the study in this regard, she said, will be made available in the early part of 2014, and will be used to improve the literacy level of students.
The other study looked at the learning needs of pupils. This was done to determine their level of literacy, as well as to test whether the curriculum that is used to teach this level is relevant or needs a subtraction or addition.
