Improving education delivery

There is evidence thatthe current administrationconsiders the educationsector very crucial withrespect to achieving our country’sdevelopmental aims. Thisis evident in the large amountof resources that are beingchannelled to the sector andgeared towards improving thequality of education our studentsreceive. The Ministryof Education (MoE) recentlyoutlined several initiativesthat will see education managementand delivery beingtransformed with deeper involvementof the parents andcommunities in general.According to a recent newsrelease out of Washington DC,the World Bank (WB) has approveda US$4.2 million creditto advance the quality of teachereducation in Guyana. Thereport states that the projectwill be in partnership with theMoE to support the Cyril PotterCollege of Education (CPCE)and the University of Guyana(UG) School of Education andHumanities. The project hasthree components. The firstcomponent is geared towardsimproving the quality and efficiencyof teacher educationdelivery, which will supportthe implementation of theAssociate Degree in Educationand the Bachelors Degree inEducation. The second componentinvolves building humanresources and technical capacityfor more effective teachingand learning by improving thequality of teacher educatorsand strengthening managementat CPCE and UG’s Schoolof Humanities. And the thirddeals with project managementand monitoring and evaluation,to inform stakeholdersof the benefits and changes ineducation policy and teachereducation programmes.It should also be mentionedthat the MoE has stated itshopes to integrally involve theparents and the wider communityin creating the frameworkthat would allow students toperform better. This is indeeda step in the right direction,since the main aim of this effortis to forge a more vibrantworking relationship betweenparents and schools throughParent/Teachers Associations(PTA), to ensure students areclosely monitored, remain motivated,focused and resultsoriented.Subject MinisterShaik Baksh stated that if ourschools are to be successful,“they must become part of thecommunities that they serve.”He further added that the ministrywill be accelerating movementin this direction, but itwould not be done in a mannerthat inhibits the effective andprofessional management ofthe schools. Rather, “it wouldbe executed in a way wherecommunity members see themselvesas genuine stakeholders/partners advancing the educationagenda.”In addition, the governmenthas been providing much-neededsupport through variousnational programmes, suchas the National MentoringProgramme and the SchoolFeeding and School UniformProgrammes, in an effort toensure that students attendschool and take their educationseriously. While some initiativeshave already startedto produce results, someare still in the early stages ofimplementation. For example,the National MentoringProgramme has been widelylauded for the initial successit has achieved in the schoolsin which it is currently beingimplemented. Its aim is to promotetolerance and inculcatesafe and acceptable behavioursin students in an effort to improvetheir all-round performances.It should be mentioned thatthe National School FeedingProgramme has had a positiveimpact on attendancerates across the country. Priorto the introduction of this programme,some parents wereclaiming that they could nothave afforded to send theirchildren to school because theywere finding it hard to providefood for them. It would havebeen good if this assistancewas being provided to schoolsacross the country, but onehas to consider the availabilityof resources. Also, the SchoolUniform Programme, whichaims to provide financial assistanceto every student thatis in need of school uniforms,has been a great help to poorfamilies. Education officialshave reported that, as a resultof these initiatives, there hasbeen a significant increase innumbers of students attendingschool.In addition, Minister Bakshhas said that the EducationMinistry hopes to address theissue of school drop-outs whichhas long been a problem thatnegatively affected our society.It is hoped that, for thispresent academic year, theministry will work diligentlywith other agencies, such asthe Home Affairs and HumanServices and Social SecurityMinistries, to tackle the issuehead on. It is important thatour students get themselvesequipped with the necessaryskills and knowledge to be productiveand contribute to thedevelopment of not only themselvesand their families, buttheir communities as a whole.All of these initiatives currentlybeing undertaken by theadministration and other partnerswill no doubt put Guyanaon track in terms of achievingthe Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs), specifically theone which deals with achievinguniversal primary education.