Education Min notes that feedback from stakeholders important to transforming Guyana’s Education system

The Education Ministry continued its national consultation exercise at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC). The Ministry on Thursday engaged the migrant and re-migrant parents and children of Region Three at the Leonora Secondary School.

Education Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand told participants that the consultation exercise is important to the Ministry. She pointed out that countries around the world particularly member states of the United Nations are engaged in consulting in and around recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and how the sector can be re-imagined generally.

The minister stressed that the pandemic has affected the sector tremendously. She noted that COVID taught the world that no education system was resilient enough to withstand the impact of such a pandemic. “The most developed countries found themselves unprepared to move into any kind of learning effectively,” Manickchand said.

The minister disclosed that participants in today’s exercise were drawn from various organizations and government agencies. The education minister said that the intention is to hear from the representatives from an institutional standpoint as well as their individual perspectives. She stressed that the consultative process is important to hear from the various stakeholders of how the sector can move forward.

Director of the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), Mrs. Quenita Walrond-Lewis pointed out that this consultative exercise that is being held across the country is expected to address activities in five critical areas. These areas are:

1. Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools
2. Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development
3. Teachers, teaching and the teaching profession
4. Digital learning and transformation
5. Financing of education

Walrond-Lewis reiterated that these areas are all framed around the five pillars of the Ministry’s Strategic Plan 2021-2025.

Meanwhile, Chief Education Officer, Dr. Marcel Hutson disclosed that innovation and creativity must be brought sharply into focus if the sector is to be transformed. Dr. Hutson added that all stakeholders must work as a team in order to achieve the transformation necessary for the sector to move forward. He said that the concept of synergy cannot be overlooked.