Given the serious challenges facing this nation in this second decade of the 21st century, we must focus on one major goal to transform how the next generation lives.
Let’s choose one thing we could do well, focus on it, and make the defining difference – one that works, that propels the children among us to the heights of their potential.
One person could make this happen. Education Minister Priya Manickchand is in the position to make a huge difference for this nation. The Minister holds the key to transforming how our nation looks a decade from now.
With vision, strong action, determined focus, and the practical wisdom to define the future, Ms Manickchand’s role in cultivating and shaping our future is second to none in this land.
Under her guidance lies the future of our children, from kindergarten to university. At the University of Guyana, her leadership could transform our national capital asset of skills.
At the teachers’ training college, the nursing school, vocational institutes such as Critchlow Labour College and the Technical Institute, Manickchand’s leadership is absolute, and crucial.
The responsibility that rests in the Minister’s hands really confers on her the role of mother of the nation’s future. It’s an astonishing opportunity for this young leader to shape the future, and secure her legacy as a great leader of the 21st century Guyanese nation.
This morning our children wake up in the hinterland, in Linden, in Berbice, in Essequibo, in Georgetown, and look up to us adults to make this society a place where they could dream, strive and embody a realistic opportunity to self-develop.
Our nation has a lot to be thankful for, despite the dire state of the society. Many of our children, cultivated under the guiding hand of their ambitious parents, achieve much.
When we look across our nation, including the global diaspora, we see so many outstanding Guyanese. And many of us overcame enormous odds. In the 1980’s, huge challenges faced citizens: we could not source books, had to line up for scarce basic food, faced gross inefficiency in public transport, lived with a crisis in national housing.
Yet, the generation of the 1980’s achieved a solid education, with many of our citizens completing high school, successful at GCE or CXC, or both. We faced stunning odds, but we got one thing – a solid education.
If we owe late President Forbes Burnham a big thank you for anything, it’s that his government cultivated universal education, from nursery to university.
In fact, Ms Manickchand would do well to restore a tiered system of free University education for each citizen who qualifies through the secondary school system. As a nation we suffered economic constraints of unimaginable proportions compared to the rest of the Caribbean. But, we got an education, at one point achieving a 98 percent literacy rate.
Today, our national capital asset of skills lies at the bottom of the Caribbean pool. Our national functional literacy rate dropped to the alarming crisis of a shocking 23 percent, according to an official source.
When we see an 89-year old citizen in Berbice being able to read the daily newspapers, while a teenager at a Community High school is unable to write a sentence or read a paragraph, we know that we face a monumental crisis. We have failed generation after generation of our children over the past two decades. That’s a long time to fail. It’s time to turn things around.
And Minister Manickchand must take her responsibility as a mandate of utmost importance.
In this generation, we will see more lawyers, doctors, leaders and professionals emerge. Our nation does work. But, for too many of our children, the future looks bleak and forlorn.
The established national education system offers great opportunities for transforming our communities across this land.
Each school building offers a place that could function as a transformational community hub. Apart from a training centre for our children during the day, the Minister could open up these buildings, all across this land, in every village and town, including Moruca, Lethem and Rupununi, for the University of Guyana to hold adult night classes.
The Minister could easily equip these satellite classrooms with digital lectures through wifi, maybe in community development partnership with Digicel or GT&T, for example.
This simple strategy would open up the landscape of knowledge and training for personal development to citizens all across this land. Instead of adults idling away their time, they could embark on the joy of learning, of becoming knowledge workers.
Plugging the citizenry into a knowledge culture instils in our people the confidence, initiative and personal leadership for local community projects that foster local development. Such a strategy also quickly builds a national capital asset of skilled, thinking people.
Our school buildings, flung across this vast land, from Orealla to the Pomeroon to Lethem, offer a fantastic opportunity to empower each citizen with a national knowledge culture.
Through the national education system we could embark on all kinds of personal training and citizen development. We could hold fitness classes in the evening, literature forums and book clubs, classes for the development of moral and ethical social behaviour, personal development in essential life skills, and even personal finance training for household budgeting, and entrepreneurship.
In partnership with organizations like IPED, we could even embark on a national programme, through an entrepreneurship adult evening class in these school buildings, of fostering small business development across the country.
Manickchand’s role calls for vision, strategic planning, wisdom in networking even opposing forces to support her national development vision, and authentic leadership.
We know we harbour among us mediocre minds which stifle progress and initiative. Many bureaucrats and selfish officials pull this society down. It’s why we have failed our people so much.
The Minister must overcome this evil, not allowing petty minds to stand in her way. Serious challenges face such visionary tasks, preventing forward movement of vision and purpose.
But, Minister Manickchand’s single-minded focus on this one goal, of transforming the future of our children over the next decade, is the solution we need. It would inspire our nation to achieve the tipping point for our latent potential for progress to sprout and grow.
Team Guyana, which reported to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) last week in New York, was unhappy at the manner in which questions were posed by committee members and their reliance on “alternative sources” and the country will shortly lodge an official complaint.
“Guyana wishes to express some concerns as to the way some questions were posed… We wish to place on record that we will formally indicate through the respective channels our specific concerns,” Minister of Human Services & Social Security Jennifer Webster told members of the media during a press conference yesterday at the Foreign Service Institute.
Asked about the specific concerns of the team, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand, who accompanied Webster to the forum along with Advisor on Governance Gail Teixeira, said: “We expressed concerns at the frequent use of alternative sources, especially where there were information that was publicly available that would refute the information given by those alternative sources that caused the basis of a question.”
One example listed by the minister was when one committee member stated that an alternative source informed that because the public institutions do not offer abortions, Guyana has a high rate of maternal deaths. Another member said they were informed that only 13% of the hinterland population had access to information, which the ministry said was furthest from the fact.
“We respectfully call for a higher level of research to be done by members of the committee,” the education minister said.
Following Guyana’s report, CEDAW, which monitors the compliance of states with the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, acknowledged progress made on some issues, but expressed concern about women’s limited access to justice in Guyana, reported widespread discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals, and whether the root causes of trafficking in women were being addressed.
But yesterday Manickchand said that access to justice in Guyana has been a success story. “We used to have Legal Aid in Georgetown alone but now we have Legal Aid in regions, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 10, we don’t in regions 1, 7, 8 and 9 and we must aspire to get there but practically speaking, the regions that have access to Legal Aid have 90 percent of the population. So how could you conclude that we don’t have access to justice?” Manickchand questioned.
Webster said they were quite clear on the mandate of the country, while adding that there were representatives from several NGOs in Guyana but they were not allowed to speak at the forum.
“During the session, several questions were posed by members of the CEDAW committee, which, in Guyana’s view, did not pertain to the specific CEDAW Convention and to the specific issues in Guyana’s seventh and eighth periodic reports that were submitted,” Webster added.
Manickchand said she believes that one of the results from the 23-member committee’s seeming reliance on alternative sources, which they did not name, was the downplaying of the progress the country has made. She said at least one of the NGOs that was at the forum is not known in Guyana, and while the NGOs were not allowed to ask questions they were in closed-door sessions with committee members and might have conveyed some of the questions they wanted asked.
Report
Guyana’s report, which covers 2004 to 2010, was presented by Webster and stated that Guyana is considering proceeding in line with the recommendations of the Human Rights Council’s 2010 Universal Periodic Review. She noted that the country has acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and Their Families.
She admitted that a disabling factor to accurately assessing the country’s report to advance women’s rights has been the issue of timely collection and analysis of statistics.
“Our government has been taking steps to improve the collection of accurate data including the digitisation and electronic compilation of relevant data,” Webster said.
She reported to the committee that some of the challenges that continue to face the nation on this front are the prejudices, engrained cultural barriers and male attitudes in our society which are not easily dislodged.
“However, we reiterate that the Government of Guyana remains unswerving in its commitment to honour its obligations under the convention and will expend every effort with available resources — human, financial and technical — to ensure that we continue to make progress for all our people, especially our women and children,” the minister said
Webster also said that legislative and administrative steps have boosted the proportion of women in non-agricultural paid employment, as well as their representation in Parliament and Cabinet-level posts to more than 30%. She added that Guyana’s 2011 Millennium Development Goals progress report showed notable gender-equality achievements in education, curbing infant and child mortality, and stemming poverty, thanks in part to the government’s commitment to earmarking 25% of the budget for the social sector. The minister also noted that the report highlighted key challenges in maternal health. In terms of this, she said that with just six obstetricians to attend 15,000 births annually and limited support from development partners to address that deficiency, the government had taken steps to recruit obstetricians from overseas, while placing Guyanese doctors recently trained in Cuba in outlying regions of the country.
EDUCATION Minister Priya Manickchand and Human Services and Social Security Minister, Jennifer Webster, who are just back after attending the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)’s annual meeting in the United States, yesterday registered their disappointment over what they deem lack of research in questions posed by some of the organisation’s members.
The forum which opened on July 9 saw the Guyana delegation presenting its 7th and 8th reports which cover the period 2004 – 2010.
Several questions were raised which according to Minister Webster were centred on CEDAW’s convention issues and which could have been avoided had the committee members embarked upon responsible research.
She noted that at no time was the Guyana delegation’s presentation during the international forum unclear, as it related to the country’s mandate and its role to further advance women’s rights.
The committee’s members during their questioning session accused the government of not having Magistrates’ Courts in many parts of the country. Attributing their ‘information’ to ‘alternative’ sources, they also stated that only 13 percent of children in the hinterland have access to education.
This did not go down well with the Education Minister who expressed concern over the questions posed and their merit.
“We expressed concern at the frequent use of the ‘alternative sources’ which they credit their questions on, especially when there was information that was publicly available that refutes the information given by those alternative sources,” Minister Manickchand said.
“How can only 13 percent of our children in the hinterland have access to education when our record shows that there is a higher enrolment in the hinterland region than there is on the coast,” she said.
Minister Manickchand pointed out that while the forum is highly respected, there is dire need for a higher level of research by members of the Committee while compiling their questions, instead of relying wholly on alternative sources who have been blatantly peddling misinformation.
“We have the greatest of respect for members of the Committee and for the process itself and that is why we were there because we wanted to make sure that all this work we put into getting the report done that Guyana was there to not only highlight what it has done but, to give account to issues which were not done,” Minister Manickchand pointed out.
Despite the fact that the annual meeting has not yet concluded, a release has already been issued on Guyana, stating that the country needs more access to justice, when this subject is in fact a success story altogether.
Since the launch of legal aid in the 1970s, the service was accessible only in the capital city. However, this has been significantly revamped and now legal aid is accessible in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10.
In its fight to have equal rights for all, Guyana signed the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and is in the process of implementing the declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.
Its periodic report on the Convention of the Rights of the Child(CRC) was also brought up to date in 2010. Government has committed to the implementation of the CEDAW and the advancement of women’s rights and the attainment of true equality for women in society, to ensure that progress continues to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women.
“As a matter of policy, the government continues to prioritise strong commitment to investment in the social sector…it is our firm conviction that no investment is more important than that made in our people,” Minister Webster pointed out.
In Guyana’s opening statement to CEDAW’s annual meeting, the committee was briefed on the many legislative reforms that address children’s rights and protection which were enacted by government and, access to lands by Amerindian communities.
According to Minister Webster, while Amerindians now have more access to lands, six modern laws were enacted during 2009/2011 which will significantly bring the country in line with its treaty obligations to the CEDAW and the CRC.
“Equal access to education is another area of priority as it relates to the convention. Whilst Guyana can proudly say it has virtually achieved universal primary education, the most significant advancement has been equal access to primary and secondary education by Amerindian children,” she said.
In 1992, only one secondary school existed in the hinterland. Today, there are 13 such schools, with dormitories which offer Amerindian students equal rights for the first time as those of the coast.
The CEDAW meeting will conclude on July 27.
The National Assembly yesterday unanimously passed the Civil Law (Rights of Persons in Common Law Union) Bill, with both government and opposition recognising deficiencies of the current laws in addressing inheritance rights upon the death of a spouse in a civil union.
With the enactment of the new law, persons in common-law unions for five years will receive the same privileges as a widow or widower, where their partner has died without making a will.
The bill was tabled in June by Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who yesterday said that common-law unions never received due recognition from the old British laws. He added that it was left to the innovation of judges to pacify the hardship which the law meted out to spouses and children in common-law unions. The move to change the outdated legislation began in 1983 with the promulgation of the Children Born out of Wedlock Act and the repeal of the Bastardy Act. In 1990, he noted, there was the passage of the Married Persons Property Amendment Act, when for the first time common-law unions were recognised by statute.
But Nandlall said that the shortcoming of the 1990 Act was that it did not extend to the death of a spouse, and in the interim the rules of intestacy prevailed in this vacuum. “The bill will benefit people right across the country,” he said, while adding that the legislation has been hailed as a victory for men and women.
Speaking on the legislation, Minister of Education and former Minister of Human Services Priya Manickchand said that the bill, though gender neutral, will be to the benefit of women for the most part. She said that from her experience as a laywer and in her former ministerial portfolio, she knows that not a week goes by without many women complaining of being left out of the estate of their deceased partner after living a lifetime with a man.
Manickchand said while she does not believe that the bill encourages common-law relationships, the House should not take away the choice of cohabitation as an alternative to marriage. She said too that while the law caters already for common-law unions, this new legislation will make women more equal.
APNU MP James Bond assured the main opposition’s support and said that he was sure all Guyanese will accept the bill.
He added that by passing the bill, the National Assembly would have moved in leaps and bounds in protecting the interest of women in common-law unions.
According to its explanatory memorandum, the bill seeks to provide for the rights of persons in a common law union “in intestate succession.” Clause 2 of the Bill provides that a single woman living with a single man in a common law union for not less than five years or vice versa to “have the same power and rights regarding intestate succession under the law as a widow or widower or a surviving spouse. However, only one such union shall be considered for any benefit.”
Additionally, Clause 3 amends section 2(6)(a) of the Family and Dependants Provision Act, to qualify a common-law spouse based on co-habitation for five years immediately preceding their partner’s death.
GOVERNMENT has again demonstrated its commitment to Guyana’s women, this time through the Civil Law (Rights of Persons in Common Law Union) Bill 2012, which was unanimously passed yesterday in the National Assembly.
This bill was tabled by Attorney General & Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, with intention to provide for the rights of persons in a common-law union when a partner has died intestate (without leaving a legal will). This is called intestate succession.
Clause two of the bill provides a single woman living with a single man in a common-law union for not less than five years or vice versa, with the same powers and rights regarding intestate succession as a widow or widower, or a surviving spouse. However, only one such union shall be considered for any benefit.
In addition, Clause Three, Section 2 (6) (a) of the Family and Dependents Provision Act has also been amended, substituting “seven years” for “five years”, to make the section accord with other laws relating to a common-law union.
Nandlall said, “This bill seeks, for the time in the history of our country, to accord to a spouse in a common-law union the right to access benefits under the laws of intestate.”
The Children Born out of Wedlock (Removal of Discrimination) Act 1983 was the first promulgation by Parliament to begin this legislative revolution of recognizing common-law union, and also did the Family Dependents Provision Act in 1990.
Nandlall, moreover, referred to the Married Persons Property (Amendment) Act, which for the time recognised by statute the common-law union. “We had a situation where the Married Persons Property (Amendment) Act of 1990 corrected the historical wrong that was committed against common-law spouses by conferring upon them the right to access matrimonial property in the same way that the legal spouse was entitled to all the years,” he said.
However, he said it did not extend that right to the position “where the spouse dies, and it did not extend to cover the eventuality of where one spouse dies, what is the position of the other spouse,” he pointed out.
“Therefore, this bill seeks to correct an omission which ought to have been corrected perhaps some 20 years ago, and this bill will benefit people right across this country,” he noted.
The Attorney General posited, “It has been lauded by the women’s groups as a great victory for women, and that is indeed true.” He said that men are equally going to benefit, as well as the children of those unions.
“We now can say that, in relation to common-law unions, we have perhaps a complete legislative network and framework which covers every eventuality,” the Attorney General declared.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand lent support to the bill by alluding to the fact that “this Government is friendly to women”. She declared the bill gender neutral, but acknowledged that the major beneficiaries of this bill, once enacted, would be Guyana’s women.
“I invite the National Assembly to join us and declare ourselves in this House openly and proudly that we are a House who will support Guyana’s women,” she encouraged.
“I believe this piece of legislation will do nothing more than to make women more equal,” Manickchand contended.
A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) MP James Bond also, in supporting the bill, called it commendable, and congratulated Attorney General Nandlall and his ministry for this effort.
While acknowledging progress made on some issues, a United Nations committee on women has expressed concern about women’s limited access to justice in Guyana, reported widespread discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals, and whether the root causes of trafficking in women were being addressed.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) met in New York on Tuesday to begin its consideration of the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports of Guyana. Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Jennifer Webster, led the Guyanese delegation, which also included Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, Presidential Adviser on Governance, Gail Teixeira, Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations, George Talbot, and other officials. CEDAW monitors the compliance of states with the Convention on the Elimina-tion of All Forms of Discri-mination against Women.
Webster presented Guyana’s report which covers 2004 to 2010. According to a UN report on the meeting, Webster said that Guyana is considering proceeding in line with the recommendations of the Human Rights Council’s 2010 Universal Periodic Review. She noted that the country has acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and Their Families. “Since Guyana was last reviewed much has taken place and much progress has been made whilst some old challenges persist and new challenges have emerged,” Webster said.
The delegation told the committee that despite cuts in development assistance due to the global economic crisis, ingrained prejudices towards women and cultural barriers confronting them, Guyana had rooted the empowerment and protection of women firmly in its national policies, legislation, educational and social programmes, as well as health initiatives. Webster said that through a mix of progressive laws and programmes to stamp out domestic violence and gender-based discrimination in the workplace, ensure women’s representation in Parliament, prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV and provide low-interest loans to buy homes and run businesses, among other things, Guyana had made headway in improving the lot of women.
Unswerving
“The Government of Guyana remains unswerving in its commitment to honour its obligations under the Convention and will expend every effort with available resources — human, financial and technical — to ensure that we continue to make progress for all our people, especially our women and children,” the minister said. She declared that government is tackling widespread gender-based violence in partnership with non-governmental organizations. Webster cited the “Stamp it Out!” campaign, the 2010 Sexual Offences Act, which introduced stiff penalties for offences, “safe zones” for victims and expedited judicial procedures for those seeking redress as well as a new Men’s Affairs Bureau and the recently launched “It’s Our Problem, Let’s Solve it!” campaign which would sponsor public discussion in communities where violence was particularly acute.
Webster also said that legislative and administrative steps have boosted the proportion of women in non-agricultural paid employment, as well as their representation in Parliament and Cabinet-level posts to more than 30%. She added that Guyana’s 2011 Millennium Development Goals progress report showed notable gender-equality achievements in education, curbing infant and child mortality, and stemming poverty, thanks in part to the government’s commitment to earmarking 25% of the budget for the social sector. The minister also noted that the report highlighted key challenges in maternal health. In terms of this, she said that with just six obstetricians to attend 15 000 births annually and limited support from development partners to address that deficiency, the government had taken steps to recruit obstetricians from overseas while placing Guyanese doctors recently trained in Cuba in outlying regions of the country.
According to Webster, with donor funds poised to decline further, Guyana is worried about its ability to maintain programmes begun with external support so as to address communicable diseases affecting women and children in particular. She cited the programme to provide free antiretroviral treatment and prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV which has reduced mortality and improved the quality of life for HIV-infected people. “We don’t want to see those compromised due to a lack of resources,” she emphasized.
The minister also said that Guyana has achieved the third Millennium Development Goal, gender parity in primary and secondary education, and would continue to strive towards parity at the tertiary level. She also said that with government’s housing drive and low-income loans, more women, particularly single mothers, now owned property. The “Women of Worth” microcredit initiative gave women access to low-interest loans and microcredit facilities that enabled them to carry out small business projects in various fields, Webster added.
She also spoke on several other developments including the rising number of women working, the number of women in parliament, and the national priority to tackle the endemic culture of violence and widespread gender-based violence. The “It’s Our Problem, Let’s Solve it!” campaign would comprise community-led discussions in 17 targeted communities from July to November with the ultimate objective of creating a revised national action plan to end and prevent domestic violence, as well as a comprehensive communications strategy and a monitoring and evaluation framework, she said.
Since the lack of timely, accurate data made it difficult to assess efforts to advance women’s rights, the government in 2010 began to strengthen its national monitoring and evaluation systems, beginning first with the health and education sectors, and moving on to the social services and housing sectors, she said. “Some of the challenges which remain are the prejudices, ingrained cultural barriers and male attitudes in our society which are not easily dislodged,” Webster said.
Limited access
The Committee’s 23 expert members acknowledged the progress made, but expressed concern, among other things, about women’s limited access to justice, particularly in rural areas and the hinterland, slow implementation of the Convention and judicial reforms, reported widespread discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals, and whether the root causes of trafficking in women were being addressed.
They also voiced concern over the government’s ability to sustain programmes in light of reduced external aid, the absence of sex-disaggregated data, and contradictory information in the delegation’s report about women’s access to health care, the mass emigration of trained nurses and other health-care professionals, and the failure of rural courts adequately to address women’s concerns.
Fielding questions from the committee members, Manickchand, according to the report issued by the UN, said that government is doing its best to ensure proper implementation of the Convention’s articles. While it was difficult, and even clumsy, for the judiciary to invoke the Convention in its judgments, the treaty was well reflected in domestic legislation, she said. Regarding women’s access to justice, Manickchand said that six of Guyana’s 10 regions had legal aid services, which had previously only been available in Georgetown. The country’s topography made it challenging to provide access in all the regions, she said, pointing out that most of the regions had courts and that some of them sat daily while others sat only weekly. That was necessary for financial reasons, she said. Guyana’s legal system faced many challenges due to a lack of resources, which caused substantial delays in taking legal decisions, the minister contended.
Under further questioning, Manickchand said that the Guyana Legal Aid Clinic is run by a non-governmental organization but the government provided the entire sum it needs to function. In terms of limitations on the implementation of the Convention, she said the National Consti-tutional Commission had sought to provide two exceptions to the Convention’s implementation: Guyana would implement it as far as its resources would make that possible, and there would also be consideration of the socio-cultural environment.
Manickchand refuted the contention that discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals was widespread but conceded that the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community was not readily welcomed by the populace. She noted that the Government was consulting the people once again on lesbian and gay relations.
Meanwhile, Webster said that Guyana has legislation aimed at combating trafficking in persons and her ministry focuses on providing psychosocial, medical and economic support, as well as job training to victims while helping them reintegrate into society. The overall aim was to reduce poverty among victims of trafficking and vulnerable segments of society, she said, citing a government programme to aid single mothers, provide skills training for youth, and the “hinterlands” programme aimed at reducing poverty, especially in Amerindian communities. The 2005 Trafficking in Persons Act was stringently enforced, but as Guyana was a small country, few cases were presented for prosecution, Webster said.
Abortion
Several questions were asked on health care and Manickchand, in relation to abortion, said that Guyana had no data to suggest that the high maternal mortality rate resulted from that practice. Recently, there had been one reported death from an unsafe abortion and that had been in a private clinic, she said. The minister also said that while it would be naïve to imagine that some health-care service providers did not ask for money to deliver services that the Government intended to be free, there was no evidence that corruption was endemic to Guyana’s health-care system. She commended the public health care system but said that due to the geography of the hinterland, it was difficult to provide health-care services there. Guyana was offering health-care services to the best of its ability, but it had limited technical and personnel capacity to offer a full range, she said.
Meantime, Manickchand described corporal punishment in schools as “a very sensitive issue” and three government consultations had been held on that subject thus far.
With regards to women’s access to housing, Webster said that the Ministry of Housing had embarked upon an initiative to provide more houses for low-income families and many of the beneficiaries would be female single parents. Manickchand, responding to the question about discrimination against single women in housing, said that when the government had begun distributing housing lots, hundreds of thousands of people and thousands of families had been in need of a place to live. Therefore, housing lots had been given on a needs basis, and the housing needs of those with children had been deemed to be higher than those of a single person, she said. At the moment, demand for housing had decreased, so single women and female single parents were also receiving housing support, she added.
Webster reaffirmed that Guyana is committed to eliminating discrimination against women in all regards. Working in collaboration with civil society, donors, religious organizations, and non-governmental organizations, Guyana would continue to undertake steps and measures to ensure that it was compliant with the Convention, she said.
Silvia Pimentel, the Committee Chairperson and expert from Brazil, thanked the members of the delegation and encouraged them to work towards “a more comprehensive implementation” of the Convention. She also acknowledged the work of Desirée Patricia Bernard, a former expert member from Guyana who had been a “respected force” on the Committee.
MINISTER of Human Services and Social Security, Jennifer Webster and Education Minister Priya Manickchand, who is an avid women’s rights activist, yesterday addressed a gathering during the CEDAW annual meeting at Church Center, United Nations in New York.
The Guyana Government has been adamant in ensuring that all forms of discrimination against women in society are eliminated, since ratifying the convention on July 17, 1980.
The implementation of the Convention is monitored by a 23-member Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
The meeting, which will run from July 9-27, 2012 will see the Guyana delegation submitting its National Report which indicates what measures have been adopted and implemented by government, to give effect to the provisions of the Convention.
During the session, Government representatives are questioned on the content of the report which is submitted, while additional recommendations made will be explored.
Minister Webster is expected to make an address, according to the Government Information Agency (GINA). Prior to this, she expressed Guyana’s pleasure at participating in the 52nd session of CEDAW which reviews the country’s seventh and eighth reports submitted.
“Guyana re-affirms its commitment to the implementation of the CEDAW and the advancement of women’s rights and the attainment of true equality for women in our country,” she said.
Meanwhile, Minister Manickchand stated that the opportunity will allow Guyana to share with the rest of the world its experiences and successes in the area, noting that, “even as we hear from other countries how they have been addressing challenges and obstacles to fully implementing the Convention…some of which are shared by Guyana.”
Also attending the Convention is Troy Torrington, Charge d’ Affaires, Guyana Permanent Mission, United Nations; and Bibi Ally and Shiraz Mohammed, First and Second Secretary respectively, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Convention on the elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 18, 1979. It was entered into force as an initial treaty in September 1981, after the twentieth country had ratified it.
EDUCATION Minister Priya Manickchand has made it clear that there will be no transferring of students from lower to higher schools, based on the results of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) examinations, irrespective of their connections, stature or relationship with anyone. She made the declaration on Wednesday, at Diamond Secondary School, East Bank Demerara, after a consultation with teachers on corporal punishment and automatic promotion.
The Minister said that, following the announcement of the NGSA results last week, several concerned parents have been approaching the Ministry seeking transfers from the schools for which their children would have attained marks.
However, she said, while her ministry would like to make every child comfortable with the school at which they are placed, the reality is that it remains logistically impossible to do.
She said it is extremely hard and will not be done.
Explaining the reasons, Manickchand said there may be a case where one parent comes and requests that his or her child is placed in a particular school because they missed the mark for that school. She said, like that child, there may be 31 or 41 others who missed the mark for that very school.
“What happens there?” the Minister asked.
She said it will then mean developing one or two additional classrooms to accommodate those students and that requires space.
RESTRICTIONS
Manickchand mentioned, however, that, while there may be some transfers, those would be with restrictions.
She said, where a child is placed at school that has the exact entry mark as another school, a parent could get the transfer to that school, if he or she wishes to have his or her child in close proximity to where that parent works.
The Minister added that these transfers will also be looked at from the angle of the location of the two schools and where the child lives.
But, despite the possibility of transfers, these will only be done during the period July and August when students take up their spots in the respective schools and it is determined that the school has the capacity to accommodate more students.
The Minister said she has already been hit with the harsh reality of having friends and acquaintances upset with her, because she was unable to assist them in the placing of their children in schools they desired but for which they did not attain the marks.
A TEAM of Education Ministry officials headed by Education Minister, Priya Manickchand met yesterday with teachers of Region 4 at the Diamond Secondary School, East Bank Demerara as part of the national consultation on grade retention, repetition, automatic promotion and corporal punishment. These consultations are being held to hear the views of the public, but a special hearing must be given to teachers as the people who deal with the issue on a daily basis. As such, yesterday’s discussion was held with the teachers.
The teachers were encouraged by Education Minister, Priya Manickchand to be frank and open in their concerns, and they embraced the opportunity to bring the minister up to speed with some of the issues they face. The minister confessed to having heard some of what was raised at the meeting.
Minister Manickchand assured that teachers’ views would in no way be sanctioned, as her aim was to reach them and find ways of addressing all the issues affecting the education system. The minister also registered her view that teachers ought to be celebrated for their hard work and dedication.
Meanwhile, the Principal Education Officer of the Secondary Division of the Education Ministry, Ms Melcita Bovell, in her address to the teachers, disclosed that the Education Ministry had a neutral approach to the issues being discussed, because the ministry intended at the end of the consultations to have its knowledge increased and allow teachers to make decisions on the issues from an informed position.
On the issue of corporal punishment, the minister said it remains her personal view that no child should be flogged in school. However, the oath she took when sworn in as minister mandates her to serve in the interest of the people of Guyana, and thus the consultations are geared at hearing from those she serves, since the will of the ministry is not to impose corporal punishment.
Among alternative methods the minister suggested are making a child do several things, such as facing the wall, no talking, sit on a quiet chair, and rewriting words repeatedly.
The minister told the gathering that the alternatives to corporal punishment are many, and these should be explored. She said that hitting children is dangerous and could be considered unhealthy.
According to her, at the end of the consultations, a report will be submitted to the minister, and the way forward will be based on the outcomes and expressions at the consultations.
Meanwhile, as teachers and some members of parent teachers associations stood to make their point, views varied. Some teachers expressed a view that the practice of corporal punishment should be abolished, while others felt that the whipping of children is necessary in schools. There was also the view that the system should remain the way it is; that is: Should a child require discipline in the form of corporal punishment, he or she should be taken to the head teacher of the school, who will flog that child or instruct a senior teacher to do same, but this must be documented.
One teacher spoke of a case in which a student came running to her and held onto her clothing crying. She then saw a fellow teacher heading towards her, and he slapped the child. When she enquired why the male teacher had so done, the teacher said that that student did not want to write.
The woman mentioned that that case, coupled with one in which she had flogged a child whose finger became swollen, caused her to stop beating children. She cautioned her fellow teachers to do the same.
The same teacher is now the head teacher of a school in Region 4. She reminded teachers that they should treat the children as if they were their own precious children, and refuse to flog them in at any whim, and should even be against anyone who hits them in the school system.
She also stressed that the system was in a sorry state and needed to be addressed. The head teacher was referring to the children who continue to be disruptive in the classrooms and refuse to learn. There is a need for them to have remedial classes, among other programmes, to engage them especially if they are not academically inclined.
A member from one of the schools’ PTAs expressed his views that taking a child to a head teacher before corporal punishment can be meted out gives the child the impression that the class teacher is incapable of dealing with him or her, and as such the disrespect begins there, because the teacher is seen as powerless.
However, there had to be some clarification among the teachers, as some of them were of the impression that a child needed to be taken to the HM for every transgression. It was at that point that the Education Minister questioned teachers about their alternatives to corporal punishment in the classrooms.
The response by most of the teachers repeated the very methods listed by the minister earlier as some of the methods that are being explored.
Minister Manickchand asked the teachers if the methods were working, and they responded in the negative. One teacher questioned the ability of the teacher to protect the rest of the students in a class when corporal punishment is not allowed to be used as discipline for children who become a constant bother for others. The teacher cautioned that Guyana must not be fooled into following the rest of the world with all their policies, because, in most cases, physical discipline was still very much in existence in those countries.
One teacher from the Dora Secondary School told his colleagues that there is a difference between the words “use” and “abuse”. He made that point to tell teachers that he believes teachers must be given the privilege to flog students in classrooms, but this liberty must not be abused. He called on the ministry to understand that corporal punishment has a place in society, and called on the policymakers and his fellow teachers to take their logic further. He added that respecting a child’s rights or giving children their rights without giving them responsibilities is dangerous.
Chairperson of the Diamond Secondary School Board, Debra Jack, expressed the view that should corporal punishment be totally abandoned in the school system, other measures needed to be put in place.
She pointed to the lack of councillors, including welfare officers, which she said is offering no help to the school system. She also pointed to the growing instances of abuse and other forms of violation against teachers, and to the many other issues which affect children.
Addressing the issue of automatic promotion, Minister Manickchand reminded teachers that the system applied only to secondary schools. Before getting into the discussion on the promotion issues, the minister reminded the teachers that she had been at the helm of the education sector for only about six months, and her only guidance at the moment are reports in black and white, and information related to her by her officers.
The minister told the teachers that it was now their turn to let her know of how these systems have been working in the classrooms, and added that whatever other issues were bothering them, she would entertain them if they write her directly, or even forward those letters through the union.
She questioned the teachers, based on their assessment and direct contact with the children, if the automatic promotion was doing any good for the children or the education system at large. Minister Manickchand asked teachers if they were able to ascertain if keeping the children back for a term or two has helped them to perform better. That questioned got an almost one hundred percent response in the affirmative that the children are able to do better, but the majority are asked to repeat a class or two.
Minister Manickchand said that reports she reviewed in relation to the “no child left behind policy” and automatic promotion state that some reasons for children not doing well in school were inadequate attention from teachers, children being blamed for their bad performances, and other factors. As such, the policy was introduced.
While it was not raised by the teachers, the minister questioned why is it that children seem to be doing exceedingly well in grades one and two, and when they reach to grade three, something goes awfully wrong with their performance, as reflected in the grade four and ultimately six assessments. The minister pointed to a case where a friend of hers related that her child does very well at answering questions and finding the right answers to questions and assignments when the questions are read to him.
She added that the friend also explained that when the child is left to read and find the answer by himself, it becomes a challenge.
One teacher explained that this is so because teachers are in the habit of reading questions for children for several reasons, one is that the lesson plan comes with several long questions which the children are not able to comprehend, so they tend to have a better understanding when the teachers read them.
The other reason given was the fact that teachers are failing to toughen up on children in terms of allowing them to do reading at an early grade, and thus the reading assistance goes all the way to grade two.
The teacher said that when the children go to write the exams, there is no one there to read the questions to them; they end up ‘messing up’ at the exams, and the trend continues and is reflected at the grade six assessment examination.
One teacher questioned the logic of sending students to sit an examination that they, as the teachers, know that the children would not succeed in. The teacher described such a system as pushing the children through the system, and giving them no hope for the future. She recommended remedial classes instead.
Another teacher commented that automatic promotion in the school systems gives the teachers a sense of demotivation as they see their efforts at working with a child for success as flogging a dead horse. The teacher explained that when a teacher has to teach a child who is reluctant to be present at his classes and fails to show any interest in getting the grades required to move on to a next class, the teacher then becomes disgusted and fed-up, and develops a laid back attitude.
In picking up where that teacher left off, a colleague said that the automatic promotion is damaging the student, as it affects the children; as against allowing the child to see what he or she can cope with, and, where necessary, if the child portrays the inability to cope with academics, then technical vocational training can be the next alternative. The teacher further said that the system, and by extension the nation, was failing the students with the automatic promotion system. That system is regarded as being responsible for a lot of the problems in the school system, and those problems would eventually find their way into society.
Touching on the issue of inclusive education for children with disabilities, in response to a teacher who described the education as rotten, Minister Manickchand said that had Guyana not adopted an inclusive approach for disabled children and made provisions for them to be apart of the public school system, that would have been a reason to describe the system as rotten.
GOVERNMENT’s commitment to supporting and transforming the country’s education system remains strong, and achievements over the last years in both attendance and outstanding performance are testimony to prudent educational policies and programmes.
This was reiterated by Education Minister, Priya Manickchand during a recent visit to several communities in the Mahaicony creek, Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice).
Following the visit, Minister Manickchand also met with scores of parents, students and teachers at the Karamat Primary School where she participated in the distribution of school uniform vouchers. While reflecting on the successes of the school uniform programme, she said it was introduced about a decade ago to improve school attendance across the country.
The programme, Minister Manickchand added, which was initially started by the Difficult Circumstances Unit of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security to assist persons with difficult circumstances, was eventually integrated into the wider school system.
“So what started as just a programme for persons in difficult circumstances is now benefitting every single child in the school system…money must not be seen as a barrier to obtaining an education in Guyana,” Minister Manickchand said.
The right to an education, she said is the fundamental right of every child in Guyana and therefore, government will not stand idly and allow children to be deprived of obtaining an education, regardless of ethnicity, geographical location and parents’ financial status.
Against this background, she said that the effectiveness of the programme has not only contributed to a higher school attendance but also created a deeper appreciation for education.
In addition to providing free exercise and text books, teaching materials, hot meals, snacks and school uniform materials and uniform vouchers, Minister Manickchand said the administration continues to be innovative in finding other new ways and initiatives to ensure children attend school.
The school uniform programme was initiated by former President Bharrat Jagdeo from which thousands of children annually benefit.
In 2011 Government spent $266M for the school uniform programme for which over $63M was directed to the purchase of uniform materials for Regions 1, 7, 8 and 9 and the remainder for the six other administrative regions.