Girls continue to outshine boys in school

ENROLLMENT OF GUYANESE GIRLS IN SCHOOLS AND THEIR PERFORMANCE
IN EXAMINATIONS continue to outstrip those of local boys, Education Minister Priya
Manickchand told a virtual Girls Education Day global summit on learning this week.
Manickchand forecasted that this trend is expected to continue in the future in the multi-racial,
South American English-speaking Co-operative Republic.
“The performance of females has outstripped that of their male counterparts for a considerable
period and is expected to continue. This has led to investigations into the phenomenon called ‘the
feminisation of education’ within our jurisdictions," Manickchand told the summit at this year’s
meeting held under the theme, ‘Getting girls into and back to school’.
Unlike the experiences of girls at the global level, local females do not confront systemic
roadblocks to learning at any level of the education sector.
“The existing reality, however, is that we have had to delve well beyond the superficial
appearances to develop a deeper understanding of where socio-cultural, socio-economic, political
and other issues create structural barriers to the effective education of girls,” Manickchand
explained to other participants.
Guyana had to conquer traditionalism, the urban/rural divide, and such social ills as teenage
pregnancy, gender-based violence (GBV), local legends associated with menstruation, and socio-
economic and geographic factors to ensure girls enjoy learning and its benefits.
The ministry of education here has also implemented the policy of reintegrating adolescent
mothers into schools; started distribution of sanitary napkins; continue the Health and Family
Life Education, (HFLE) programme and the Skills for Life training to sharpen the abilities girls
for later life.
Worksheets and other study materials are distributed to students at all levels of the education
system while novel pedagogical and other curricular approaches were introduced to counter
learning-loss suffered by students at all levels of the local system.

The public education programme has been distributing care packages for adolescent
mothers adversely affected by COVID in the hinterland regions to help girls maximise the
benefits available from learning in an ongoing environment hit with the outbreak of the
COVID pandemic, Manickchand outlined in her virtual presentation.