More skilled teachers needed in Amerindian communities – Whittaker

Junior Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker and a team recently met with residents of Kimbia, Hururu, Wairuni, and Ibini and distributed solar panels to the communities’ schools and health centres. The team comprised Senior Regional Development Officer Pooran Persaud; acting Regional Executive Officer with responsibilities for Kwakwani and Ituni, Devon Bremner; and personal assistant Raphael Hazel.

During the visit, the minister also engaged residents on social issues affecting their villages. Whittaker indicated that the team was well received as well as the panels.
“All the communities, the health workers, heads of the schools, and the toshaos welcomed the solar panels because it means that in the case of health, they can provide services even in the evenings. In the case of the school at Kimbia, the head of the school told me that it would allow them to access the IRI programme that comes over the radio, so it was very much welcomed,” he pointed out.
The minister noted that while the schools are equipped with teachers, officials related the need for them to be upgraded. “Most of the schools we visited, teachers were untrained or under qualified, but they expressed the wish to be upgraded and to be trained. They pointed to the fact that up to a few years ago, there were upgraded training programmes organised and arranged by the Education Department and teachers then were able to access these, and make themselves trainable and went on to the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE), so we intend to remedy that.”
Additionally, while the reports on healthcare were generally good in terms of the medicine and drugs distributed by the regional administration to the communities in a timely manner, an effort was made to look at other pertinent medical issues.
Whittaker pointed out that a resident of Ibini highlighted that the village grows soya beans on a large scale and expressed interest, on behalf of the community, in supplying the capital with the beans to make animal feed, since there is a reported shortage. Whittaker said he will move to inform Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy of that interest.
Addressing the issue of water delivery in the Amerindian communities, he said residents expressed satisfaction in receiving water from rivers; however, he commended the efforts of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) and Guyana Trust Fund in setting up a well at Wairuni.