1,386 Region Ten students to return to school – Department welcomes Ministry’s decision

As schools in Region Ten prepares for the opening of schools, the Education department in
Region Ten says that they welcome the decision. This was the disclosure made by the Region’s
acting Regional Education Officer, Ms. La Shanna Anderson speaking exclusively to
www.aroundtheregions.com. The acting REdO said that the approval which was granted by the
Ministry of Health will see 1,386 students, which include those from grades 10, 11, 12 and 13
having face-to-face classes from November 9.
“Earlier in September we in the region had conducted a survey to ascertain what we needed and
what was needed to open safely in keeping with COVID 19 guidelines and for the most  parts the
teachers that we spoke with were eager and willing to return to school because they had
identified several challenges that they had. Some of the challenges include parents committing to
helping in some way returning materials to be marked and what we found is that especially the
teachers that teach mathematics had preferred to have face to face teaching as it was better for
them than teaching it via online platform,” she said.
Anderson said that her department understands teachers who have underlying conditions noting
that her department continues to find systems that seek to protect and enhance their teaching
delivery. “They had even suggested that if a day was selected for them the teachers are willing to
work one week, one day per grade. We understand those with underlying problems, and we
intend to treat them differently. Our department welcomes the decision because what has been
happening is that our country has been at the back because Guyana has no control of Caribbean
Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), because it is a regional exam,” the acting REdO said.
Giving a breakdown of the students that will be returning to schools, Anderson disclosed that for
Grade 10, there are 833 students, grade 11 will see 485 students, grade 12 will have 32 students
and grade 13 will have 36 students. This, she said gives a total of 1,386 students representing
Region Ten. She revealed that while Guyana had sought to delay and or cancel the regional
exams they were outvoted by other countries who wanted it to be done. This, she stressed, has to
be closely looked at considering Guyana’s dominance of the regional exams over the years. She
said that having students return will ensure that they can effectively compete with other students
regionally at next year’s exams. “And this year even though it was put to a vote and we voted no
and with us not being the majority it was our country and a few other countries voted no, but the
majority of countries voted and we had to write the CSEC exams. It is a case where the
Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) is moving ahead with their  exams and we will remain at
the back and we have been dominating the regional exams for years and we cannot afford to lose
our prominence regionally,” she argued.

Anderson reiterated that her department will be making all last-minute touches and
implementation of systems and this week to ensure that they are fully ready for the
commencement of classes on November 9. She commended the Ministry of Education for its
bold step, reminding that her department remains committed and dedicated to ensuring that
teachers and students are supported and given the prerequisite tools to ensure that Region Ten
remains as one of the top performing regions nationally.