The Ministry of Education’s Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2008-2013, has as one of its goal, the achievement of at least 70 percent of teachers trained by 2013 to guarantee that children will have a better opportunity to access quality education
Chief Education Officer Olato Sam speaking on Tuesday at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) graduation at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) said that the objective has not only been met but, surpassed.
This has occurred through initiatives such as the World Bank supported US$5.12M Guyana Improving Teacher Education Project (GITEP) which aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of quality teacher education.
Through that programme, teacher educators are given the opportunity to improve their qualifications to the Master’s level and even beyond, thereby resulting in better quality teachers leaving CPCE.
The expected outcomes of the project include more effective performance of teacher educators and student teachers, more efficient provision of teacher education and better use of resources and improved management of teacher education programmes.
Meanwhile, teachers already in the system were given the opportunity to receive professional upgrades via programmes facilitated by NCERD, particularly the Non-Graduate and Continuous Development programmes.
At this year’s convocation 862 teachers graduated from CPCE and of that number, 197 graduated from the Associate Degree in Education while the remaining 665 completed the Trained Teacher’s Certificate Programme.
This achievement brings to the fore the fact that more people are interested in the teaching profession, and that the investments made by the administration are paying off.