UN agency anxious to restart education programme in Region One

THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSION FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) AGENCY
IS ANXIOUS TO RESTART ITS EDUCATION PROGRAMME BENEFITING 300
MIGRANT/REFUGEE CHILDREN in Barima/Waini (Region One) its Assistant Education
Officer, Ms. Samantha Bipat told www.aroundtheregions.com exclusively.
Bipat said the UN agency was forced to suspend its education programme “out of concern with
regards to COVID-19.”
Bipat said the students range from age six to 17 and drawn from five Region One communities
and target those enrolled in public schools and others awaiting registration which has been
delayed since 2020 because of the ongoing COVID global pandemic.
“We are executing community-based classes and currently there isn’t any more room for
enrolment. However, because these classes are face-to-face, and as a direct result of the
pandemic, we have limited access to basic resources and services,” Bipat explained.
However, residents, including the Village Captain, members of the Regional Democratic Council
(RDC), parents and local community volunteers are “excited to have the programme up and
running again” for scores of children to finally begin their formal education.
“We are currently working on having it reopen,” Bipat said optimistically.
Interest soared in the UNHCR-managed learning initiative since the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic and the organisation has “not been able to capture all of them,” she explained.
The children are exposed to two learning tracks: ‘Community Based Classes’ and ‘After
School Classes’ focusing on English as a Second Language or ESL.
“We haven’t had this since last March and we are hoping that when in-class learning resumes
that we can build a partnership with the Ministry of Education to ensure that the classes are held.
The teachers used for the community based classes are not trained as they are volunteers drawn

from the community. They are not professionals. They are community members willing to teach
the children because they know English, Spanish and Warrau,” Bipat explained.
She said the majority of the children speak Warrau (Guyanese) and Spanish (Venezuelans) “they
support the children in some of the community classes.”
“It is also held for those children who are not enrolled in the government school system as
they are waiting on space for the school because one of the greatest challenges, especially in
Region One, is that the schools are all filled and don’t have additional space,” Bipat
lamented.