Ramotar on UN committee to examine global education system

President Donald Ramotar was selected to be a member of the United Nations (UN) Steering Committee to examine the world’s education system and make recommendations for its improvement. He is expected to attend the first meeting on September 26.

The announcement was made by Education Minister Priya Manickchand during her address following the “Education Walk” on Friday, as part of the activities planned for Education Month under the theme “Transforming the nation, through inclusive education”.
“The United Nations has convened under Secretary General Ban- Ki- Moon an entire body to look at education in the world and how we can do better as a human race. Mr Ban-Ki- Moon has invited selected persons, and he must have decided in my view, he would have to look at records and interest and decide who he wanted to be on this Steering Committee, and this morning I’m extremely proud to tell you that our president, Donald Ramotar has been invited to sit on that Steering Committee,” an elated Manickchand said.
In explaining the theme of Education Month, the minister said that inclusive education in Guyana means looking after and securing proper education for special needs students. “Many countries around the world, when they speak of inclusive education, they are speaking of different things. They haven’t reached a stage where they can address the needs of special needs children.
When many countries speak of inclusive education, they are speaking about ensuring all the girls in the country get equal access to resources and opportunities. In some countries when they speak of inclusive education, they are speaking of making sure that all over geographically has equal access, but in Guyana, today we are happy to say when we speak of inclusive education, having achieved gender parity, having geographical parity, we speak about special needs students,” Manickchand boasted.
“That didn’t fall through the sky, it took planning, it took will to see all of our children get that opportunity to deliver equal access,” she added.
Manickchand took umbrage at a post online where the Alliance For Change (AFC) said the education sector is in a crisis. The Manickchand contended that the education system in Guyana today is the best it has ever been in the history of the country, and credits the improvement to the government.
“I would be the first to tell you that if you want something negative to talk about, visit any school, there will always be some zinc sheet that needs repairing, a stairway that’s falling down, a place that needs painting, some student that didn’t turn up, a teacher who got her head on the desk when she should be teaching.
“There is always going to be something that you will find because we are dealing with 300,000 students, 10,000 teachers, 1000 schools; with those kinds of numbers, you will always find something to be critical of. But if you truly love Guyana what you will do is join us in our consultations, join us when we go all over this country and we are talking about education, come there and tell us how we can do better,” She challenged.
She urged the politicians to speak to the parents, who support them, to ensure that they advise the parents to support their children at home, that they attend the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) conferences.
“There’s so much more than being critical that can be done. It is easier to sit down and pontificate what we should do, but it is much harder when you are there doing it,” she said.
President Ramotar said that the most important factor for development is the people, and therefore, the capacity of the people needs to be increased. He added that the only way this can be done is by improving the educational standards within the country, and that is the prompting reason behind the heavy investment into the sector by government.