New cadets privileged

ON FRIDAY 48 CADET OFFICERS WITH OVERSIGHT FOR THE COUNTRY’S
170,000 STUDENTS graduated from the Ministry of Education’s two-year training programme
and have already been assigned to the 11 education districts.
Much weight is placed on this batch which will have to help push revolutionising of the schools’
curriculum to make it more germane to local, regional and global changes especially as this
country’s economy transitions to petroleum and its by-products.
This need for rethinking the content of what students learn was re-emphasised when Deputy
Chief Education Officer (Administration) Ms. Fazia Baksh addressed the 48 newly-trained
officials.
She reminded them that part of the training required insight into the country’s nascent oil and gas
(O&G) sector because they anticipate issues from it will be added to schools’ curriculum as part
of the transformation process to make learners and the Guyana economy more responsive to
local, regional and international contexts.
“The expectation also is that with a better understanding of the policies, regulations, and laws
which govern our education system, they will develop their units and departments for the overall
good of the education system,” Ms. Baksh declared.
When she spoke Education Minister, Priya Manickchand addressing the ceremony virtually,
lauded the graduates as “leaders in the Ministry of Education. I congratulate you for that without
reservation.”
Manickchand reminded the new education officers that they will bolster the learning sector as
part of the cadre of leadership with the broader insights gained from the training programme.
As part of the Ministry’s team of leaders, the newly-trained Cadets join their predecessors “on an
exciting journey” in the local learning environment to boost the percentage of trained teachers in

the system from 73 to 90 percent. This will ensure every teacher in the classroom is either fully
being trained or participating in the process.

She said too that the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is being implemented
in secondary schools to ensure every student graduate with a technical skill to guarantee
employability and/or pursuit of post-secondary or tertiary education.
“Together we can turn all secondary schools into quality schools that will produce children that
are marketable,” Manickchand counselled.
In his charge to the graduating cadets, Chief Education Officer (CEO), Dr Marcel Hutson,
rehashed the vision undergirding the two-year to produce education officers with the
competence, wherewithal and pride deemed necessary for sustained transformation of the
education sector.
“This observation is important particularly as we contemplate closing the gaps in the
performance between those schools in the hinterland and the coast,” CEO Dr Hutson said.