Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, says that it is wrong for people to use children to protest at schools across the country. The Minister was speaking on Thursday at Port Mourant, Corentyne, during the launch of the new Primary Readers Series of locally- produced textbooks.
Over the past days, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has been hit by several protest actions. On Tuesday, parents and supporters of students from St. John’s Secondary School at Leonora, West Coast Demerara, were protesting the closure of the school for the past two years by the Region Three administration.
On February 2, several teachers attached to the Mackenzie High School, converged at the Regional Education Department to protest the “untenable situation” that currently prevails at the school.
Manickchand, speaking to teachers, students and senior officers within the MoE, said that she expects more protests, especially during this, “sexy elections period.” She stated that the MoE attracts much of the protest actions since she believes it is very easy to target the MoE and the school buildings.
“Over the next couple of weeks…we expect at the MoE that we are going to see protests rising up across the spectrum, in schools and in front of schools, because we know it is the easiest place to target.”
Notwithstanding the many challenges that exist in the education sector, the Minister asked the gathering to carefully examine the strides made in education, “and to also ask you to spread the message , that using children to hold placards that they can barely read, to discuss issues that they do not understand, is just bad for those children!”
“Any political party that asks you to do that—tell them, ‘no—bring out your children (the politicians) and grandchildren from their schools—because you are running for office’—and then I’ll take mine.”
The Minister urged all parents to not take their children on the road to be involved in placard demonstrations and protests in front of schools. “When you see these risings up in front of schools, understand that it is not that the system is bad—it’s just that it is the easiest place for people to target.”
She added that the government, over the years, has matched political ideology (in education) with investment, “but we have this ideology—it looks nice on paper, but how can we fund this, so we can make a difference for the children.”
Investments, she said, has shown that the number of trained teachers in 2005 was 50.8 per cent in the primary sector compared to 77 per cent being trained today. “That didn’t happen by magic…It happened because we wanted our teachers trained and we invested, and the system is such, that it took a while to move from 50 to 77.”
She noted in 1992, eight per cent of students passed English Language, compared to 46 per cent in 2014. Similarly, 18 per cent of students passed Maths in 1992 while 38 per cent pass Maths today. “It means that when you put money into a sector…you will see more of them graduating, with passes in the core subjects.”
A trained teacher for students brings a whole host of benefits for students. “A trained teacher means that your children are likely to have a more solid education,” she added. While not putting down the great work that some untrained teachers are doing in the schools, the Minister mentioned that it is more likely that children would receive a more solid type of education if taught by a trained teacher.
“If we don’t put trained teachers in front of the classrooms, then we are killing this nation slowly,” she noted. In the next five years, it is the desire of the MoE to have more than 85 per cent of teachers in the school system trained. “We are working to see that happens.”
Minister Manickchand said that another achievement for the MoE, is that it was able to attain Universal Primary Education.
“Again, that didn’t happen by magic—we looked and saw there were no schools existing in some places, and we built those—we invested—and we built new classrooms and we made sure that our children could go to primary school…”
There are still some attendance problems with children, she added, and the ways in which the government has looked to solve this, is the school feeding programmes and other social grants, such as the Uniform Voucher Grant and $10,000 voucher.
There are also hot meals and snacks for students up to Grade Two. “We ensure all students have free exercise books and text books,” she noted.
Every school, too, has enough furniture for the children, “and this is the first time in our country, that we could record Guyana having enough furniture for every single child in this country.” She called on parents to raise the issue with their regional representatives, if there are furniture shortages.
“There was a time when your children didn’t have furniture…when they were asked to bring their own furniture, but I hardly think it was because the people at the top didn’t want it to happen—it happened because they had no money to make it happen—they managed so badly, there was nothing in the pool to spend to make these things happen.”
Source: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2015/02/21/dont-use-children-for-school-protests-manickchand-urges/