Designed to offer an interactive forum for stakeholders of education, the Ministry of Education on Thursday officially launched an internet Chat Room. The Chat Room, which could be found on the Ministry’s website, www.education.gov.gy, will be accessible every Thursday from 19:30 hoursto 21:00 hours when Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand and/or senior officers will be available to answer various questions pertaining to the delivery of education.
The start of the live Chat Room on Thursday saw the ‘revised nursery entry age’ being the topic of discussion with Minister Manickchand and a number of senior officers engaged in the very interactive forum.
Many stakeholders who signed in to participate Thursday night commended the move by the Ministry.
This publication understands that although the once weekly Chat Room will have a particular theme to guide the discussion, there will also be allowance for other matters of interest to be discussed.
The introduction of the Chat Room was premised on the recognition that there were a number of concerns within the education system, some of which were not gaining the attention of the relevant officials within Central Ministry in a timely manner. With the introduction of this avenue it is expected that information will reach senior officials at a much faster rate than was obtained in the past.
It is therefore expected that such interactions will lend to the education sector operating even more efficiently. “We believe we can engage each other on the important issues of the sector in a civilised,” said the Ministry in a statement of the Chat Room.
The Ministry, in a statement, has said that “as servants of our children, their parents and our dear country, we believe that it is absolutely important to have our programmes and policies and their implementation informed by the views of your views.” Against this backdrop, the Ministry cited the importance of hearing from stakeholders, parents in particular, about the issues affecting the education of their children.
In addition to face to face meetings in communities, the Ministry has established a hotline which persons can call to report urgent matters. Added to this the ministry has created a Facebook page which currently has in excess of 10,000 followers and serves as yet another means of reaching out to stakeholders.
Source: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2014/04/13/education-ministry-introduces-forum-to-interact-with-stakeholders/