As the government continues to place heavy emphasis on technical education, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand highlighted that six new Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) centres will be opened soon.

The centres will be built in Mabaruma, Region One, Fellowship in Region Three, Beterverwagting in Region Four, Hopetown in Region Five, Bartica in Region Seven, and St. Ignatius in Region Nine.

On Thursday’s episode of the Guyana Dialogue, Minister Manickchand underscored that, “This will ensure that service is accessible all around. Technical education is getting a lot of attention. We believe that skill is wealth. We believe that the country is in a place where the thrust is going to see a need for a large number of skilled persons, where we need them to develop and earn a sound and solid living by utilising the skills that they gained at these facilities.”

Last month, the $220 million Ken Subraj-Zara Technical Centre was commissioned at the Guyana Technical Institution (GTI).

Of the $2.5 billion budget, $1 billion was used for the TVET programme in the first half of 2023, benefitting about 4,158 trainees.

Minister Manickchand also explained that a number of dormitories are being repaired in accordance with minimum standards recommended in the ministry’s report.

“Right now, we have either finished or are finishing off the repairs of those dormitory facilities in Santa Rosa in Region One; Anna Regina, Aurora, Wakapoa and Charity in Region Two…Skeldon in Region Six; Aishalton in Region Nine; and Linden Foundation in Region Ten,” she stated.

In October, female and male dormitories costing some $75 million were commissioned at Leonora Secondary School in Region three.

Minister Manickchand noted that the construction of schools is an investment in the children and the future of Guyana.

There are approximately 14 hinterland secondary schools and in three years, government has opened six new secondary schools countrywide.

“We are about to build six massive primary schools with the IDB right now…All across the country, you will see schools going up. We are pretty good with primary [schools]. We need some more nursery and secondary schools,” the minister stated.

Among the areas to benefit from the construction of the schools are Recht-Door-Zee, Tabatinga, and Tuschen.

In addition, 19 schools will be upgraded in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine. (DPI)

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2023/11/05/six-new-tvet-centres-to-be-opened-soon-min-manickchand/

Technology is advancing and to ensure children are equipped to function in an advanced society, Minister of  Education Priya Manickchand on Monday commissioned a smart classroom at the Stewartville Secondary School on the West Coast of Demerara.

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The $7 million smart classroom is equipped with an audio system, interactive boards, and voice-activated cameras, among other features. It is also fully air-conditioned.

Delivering remarks at the commissioning ceremony, Manickchand said the intention is to ensure every school is outfitted with a smart classroom.

And to ensure students benefit from improved learning, she pledged that the government will continue to invest in providing the necessary resources.

“…What we want to make sure is that you are trained and taught and dealt with to be the best you are capable of…it is very important that we are able to make you into the best version of yourself.

“You will see a lot of efforts and investments being made into the  education sector…The reason for that is to make you more advanced than your parents are. To give you opportunities that your parents never had….but we can’t make you responsible. You still have a job here. You have to want this. You have to work to earn better.”

Provisions for the smart classrooms form part of a $1.3 billion allocation in the Ministry of Education 2023 budget under the Secondary Education Improvement Project, which is being funded through the World Bank.

“We have to ensure that we disseminate education in such a manner that no child is left behind,” Regional Chairman, Inshan Ayube said.

According to Ayube, teachers are duty-bound to ensure the resources are maintained.

“…It is the responsibility of the head of this school in connection with all the teachers to ensure that when we have these type of resources placed at our disposal that we will be very accountable with the manner in how we use them and how we take care of them,” he said.

The smart classroom is among 25 that are on the cards to be commissioned by the ministry this year.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2023/10/23/stewartville-secondary-school-gets-7m-smart-classroom/

Making the case for better regulation of teachers, Subject Minister Priya Manickchand on Tuesday said that slothfulness will not be tolerated as teachers’ licensing consultations are underway.

“The country is moving to a place where lackadaisical, sloth, inattention to detail will no longer be tolerated in classrooms and we are quickly moving to a place where this noble profession that produces all the other professions will have to be licensed and will have to be regulated.

“Just in a few short weeks, we are going to begin the consultation on that. How to license the profession and what will be needed for someone to be able to renew their licenses and feedback in that process,” Minister Manickchand said on Tuesday during a ceremony at Queen’s College.

At the time, the minister was clarifying that students are being engaged by the ministry to find out how teachers are performing, showing up to classes and what they are teaching.

She said the process for the noble profession to be licensed will be considered in the coming weeks when students and their parents, and other stakeholders, sit down for discussions.

The idea is to have all stakeholders and teachers decide on the best way forward for ensuring that teachers are licensed.

Manickchand added that if teachers are not fulfilling their duties then “we can find some space in other careers for you.”

Last year the minister said teachers in Guyana will have to be licensed on an annual basis and undergo continual professional development. This is part of a holistic approach to ensuring that the education sector is up to par.

“We had started those consultations about licensing of teachers [and] regulations for teachers.

“[We are] just trying to regulate the profession in a way that other professions are regulated and so we will begin those consultations again shortly,” Minister Manickchand told reporters.

Guyana’s only training college, Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) has acquired its highest intake through the new online school which allows more teachers to get enrolled and earn their degrees in education.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2023/09/20/manickchand-says-no-tolerance-for-slothfulness-inattention-in-the-classroom/

Education Minister Priya Manickchand on Tuesday defended the government’s $94.4 billion allocation towards her sector in the 2023 national budget, saying it is in keeping with the administration’s vision.

Comparing this allocation to sums budgeted by the former APNU+AFC coalition during their five years in office, Manickchand detailed how the PPP/C was spending much more on education even with a growing student population.

For instance, the education minister said in 2019 the student population was 185, 000 and at the time the APNU+AFC made an allocation of $18.6 billion.

Fast forward to 2023, under the Irfaan Lai-led government, Manickchand said with an increased student population of 193, 000, the budgeted sum for education equates to roughly $237, 000 per child.

“We are spending double the amount on each child,” Manickchand told the National Assembly during her contribution to the budget debates.

A large part or 30 per cent of the education budget will go towards civil works. This will ensure that schools currently under construction are completed and construction for new schools will commence.

“Providing access is hugely important to ensure the delivery of quality education,” Manickchand added.

She noted too that “construction of no secondary school begun and or were completed under the Coalition government.”

Manickchand said issues like education should never be used as a punchline during debates and urged the Opposition to unequivocally support the allocations which are towards new school buildings, a feeding program and an education cash grant for each child among others.

“Education is valuable and the only way to permanently change the trajectory of any country and fortunes of any family and community is to ensure provisions to educate communities and individuals are supported,” she noted.

Manickchand also reassured the House that tuition fees to study at the University of Guyana will be a thing of the past by the end of this government’s current term in office.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2023/01/24/with-increase-in-student-population-ppp-c-spending-much-more-on-education-manickchand/

In clear terms, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand has stated that any person who sends home a child from school because of their hairstyle will face disciplinary proceedings.

“Children are not to be sent home for any breach or perceived breach of any school’s hairstyle rule. And any person doing so (sending children home) will face disciplinary proceedings,” the Education Minister wrote on her Facebook page early Tuesday morning.

Shortly after, the Education Ministry also issued a reminder to schools that children should not be sent home because of their hairstyles.

Importantly, this is the first time it is being explicitly stated that individuals will face disciplinary actions should they send a learner home because of their hairstyles.

The statements were made in response to a post made indicating that a South Ruimveldt Secondary School student was sent home because of her hairstyle.

There has been intensified discussion on dated hair rules in schools recently. In January, the Ministry of Education issued a memorandum stating that learners must not be sent home over perceived hairstyle breaches.

Headteachers were reminded that their main priority is to ensure all learners are in school and are being taught with the aim of reducing any further learning loss.

Further, the memo warned that in any instance of a learner being deemed to have an inappropriate hairstyle, the school must invite his or her parent or guardian to discuss the perceived infraction.

The Ministry of Education has said that it has no policy regulating hairstyles in schools; rules have been created by the schools themselves.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2023/09/19/persons-who-send-children-home-over-hairstyles-to-face-disciplinary-proceedings-manickchand-restates/

A new policy from the Ministry of Education could see each student receiving a well-rounded secondary education that balances academic pursuits with extracurricular activities.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand said students will learn to play at least one musical instrument while participating in sports and volunteer activities.

Additionally, each student will learn at least one foreign language and undergo Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

This will be a policy from the Ministry of Education, she disclosed.

“We haven’t announced it but we have already begun the preparation for it over a year now,” Manickchand said on Friday at a ceremony for the announcement of the 2023 National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) results.

She added, “We are in the process of doing that and very shortly we are going to launch that all across the country.”

Some groundwork has already commenced.

Minister Manickchand said there have been assessments to determine what sports, for example, can be accommodated in schools. Where schools have spacing restrictions, the Education Ministry has to find nearby spaces or alternative arrangements.

Beyond the Minister’s comments, President Dr. Irfaan Ali recently announced that he wants the Education Ministry to explore making Spanish a compulsory subject in secondary schools across Guyana.

Dr. Ali said learning a foreign language will help to make students more marketable when they enter the world of work.I It is also a crucial undertaking given Guyana’s geographical position, he noted.

The Head of State also said publicly that technical skills are in great demand, given Guyana’s developmental trajectory. As such, he wants the Education Ministry of focus on providing opportunities for Guyanese students to immerse themselves in TVET.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2023/07/10/with-new-policy-each-student-to-do-music-sports-languages-technical-subjects-volunteering/

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has set up a committee to look into the issue of safe school environments in the wake of several student, teacher, and parent confrontations, some of which escalated into violence.

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand told Stabroek News that since the matter of safe school environments needed to be addressed immediately, a special committee has been set up headed by Education Specialist Olato Sam. The committee, she expanded, “… has to report to me in two weeks…” That broad-based report will allow the ministry to look at what is currently in place as regards safety and security and the maintenance of discipline in schools, she added.

Guyana has seen rising levels of school violence between students and teachers and sometimes, parents. Recent incidents include an attack on a teacher by a parent at Graham’s Hall Primary School, East Coast Demerara; and a similar attack by a parent on a teacher at Winfer Gardens Primary School, Georgetown. In both cases the perpetrators were charged and placed before the court.

Other instances of school violence include an attack on a student by a gang armed with scissors, wood and a knife at Harmony Secondary School, Wismar, Linden and at the Lodge Secondary and Campbellville Secondary schools in the city, where armed intruders, accompanied by students, invaded the schools’ compounds and attacked both teachers and students. At Houston Secondary School, an altercation between a student and a teacher escalated with the interjection of a parent. In this instance, the teacher armed herself with a cutlass. Several of these events were filmed and posted on social media. One educator has referred to the violence as the ‘new Covid’.

Protest actions followed several of these altercations and saw teachers, parents and students voicing frustration at the lack of safe school environments. They pointed to a number of security gaps. These include no proper security. In some instances, they said, there are single unarmed guards who are unable to provide any form of protection against intrusions. They also cited inadequate fences at schools, which render them vulnerable to intruders.

Manickchand said her ministry had heard the cries of teachers and students and was responding by developing a countrywide security policy for schools. “We are looking at what the current policy is. Every region and every school seems to be [querying] how does law enforcement deal with these incidents? People seem to be unclear about what are the protocols and how they should be applied universally and so that is something we want to ensure that we are all clear about… that if x were to happen what will be our first and second responses,” Manickchand said.

“So, we are looking at what we have as far as policy, whether it’s still relevant, whether it’s outdated. If we want to update, what do we want to update? We are not doing that alone, we are looking at it at the inter-ministerial level, but we want to also look at it from the perspective of stakeholders in the wider society.”

She further explained that the new policy, while emphasising student discipline, will also focus on schools’ safety environment in its entirety. “Discipline in school has been interpreted overtime to mean how we discipline children, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about how we keep our environment safe. We want to look at that with all the stakeholders, carefully and quickly,” she stressed.

While such a policy is being created, Manickchand insisted that all must play a role in ensuring that the tone of violence is kept low. “We have to dial down on the language of violence across the society, regardless of where it’s coming from, and in relation to what. So, there were a lot of funny jokes about how teachers will defend themselves and that went too far in one instance, where no defence was apparently necessary. So, we have to be very careful if we want to look at this holistically,” she said.

There is no clear deadline as to the formulation of a new policy, and Manickchand did not want to say what the policy should be, but instead to allow that to evolve from the input of all stakeholders. 

Source:  https://www.stabroeknews.com/2023/05/01/news/guyana/special-committee-set-up-to-formulate-school-security-policy-manickchand/

Come September, schools across the country could see a national policy on violence.

This was confirmed by the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand in a recent interview with Stabroek News when she noted that the first draft of the policy had been presented to her.

The document should be ready for the new school term following consultations with key stakeholders.

 “…the first draft was presented to the Ministry of Education and we are currently engaging other stakeholders for a holistic plan to be implemented by September”, she said.

The policy is coming in the wake of a string of incidents at schools involving teachers, parents, students and even gangs.

Manickchand said that when the policy is completed it will deal with all of the issues.  Questions have been raised about the quality of security at schools.

“Looking at security in schools in holistic, It’s not just a guard at a school, it’s  what causes the behaviour, and who else are stakeholders we need to engage to ensure that we address and then of course even when we are addressing in that way; what do we do with students who are persistently disruptive”, she said.

The Minister did not want to say what the policy might entail but noted that all stakeholders will be involved in its assembly. 

Several months ago, the Minister said that a Special Committee would be set up to deal with policies going forward in addressing violence in schools following several student-teacher-parent confrontations, some of which escalated into violence.

The committee that was established was headed by Education Specialist, Olato Sam.

Recent incidents included an attack on a teacher by a parent at Graham’s Hall Primary School, East Coast Demerara and a similar attack by a parent on a teacher at Winfer Gardens Primary School, Georgetown. In both cases the perpetrators were charged and placed before the court.

Other instances of school violence included an attack on a student by a gang armed with scissors, wood and a knife at Harmony Secondary School, Wismar, Linden and at the Lodge Secondary and Campbellville Secondary schools in the city, where armed intruders, accompanied by students, invaded the schools’ compounds and attacked both teachers and students. At Houston Secondary School, an altercation between a student and a teacher escalated with the interjection of a parent. In this instance, the teacher armed herself with a cutlass. Several of these events were filmed and posted on social media. One educator has referred to the violence as the ‘new Covid’.

Protest actions followed several of these altercations and saw teachers, parents and students voicing frustration at the lack of safe school environments. They pointed to a number of security gaps. These include no proper security. In some instances, they said, there are single unarmed guards who are unable to provide any form of protection against intrusions. They also cited inadequate fences at schools, which render them vulnerable to intruders.

Source: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2023/07/04/news/guyana/policy-on-violence-in-schools-could-be-in-place-by-september-manickchand/

Education Minister Priya Manickchand on Friday acknowledged that much more effort is needed to help reduce the educational disparities that exist between Guyana’s hinterland and coastal regions.

Manickchand engaged members of the media after she announced the results of the 2023 National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).

Some information was provided earlier on pass rates in the four subject areas (Mathematics, English, Social Studies and Science) and comparative performance of boys and girls who sat the assessment. And Manickchand was asked about the performances of hinterland pupils at this year’s NGSA.

Though specific data was not readily available, Manickchand offered more general comments.

“Performance in the hinterland continues to not measure up to the performance on the coast.

“… for a variety of reasons, we have not been able to catch the gap there,” she said.

Pupils and students in the hinterland regions- which include Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine- traditionally had less access to resources than their colleagues on the coast. The geography and population size of the hinterland regions, in large part, has contributed to this.

Manickchand on Friday highlighted that there are fewer trained teachers in these regions. And according to her, there is a correlation between trained teachers and improved results.

Now, she said, the ministry is pushing forward with its ambitious goal of guaranteeing that every teacher in the education sector is trained by 2025. If achieved, that would mean that hinterland learners, like their colleagues elsewhere, would benefit from improved teaching.

Meanwhile, the Education Minister also noted that the government has been finding other ways of supporting children everywhere more so since the effects of schooling disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic are still being addressed.

That includes providing more learning materials be it textbooks or online content or continuing to use a consolidated curriculum.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2023/07/08/ngsa-2023-guyana-still-needs-to-catch-the-gap-in-the-hinterland-manickchand/

Though elated that Spanish will be compulsory in schools come September, Education Minister Priya Manickchand says that support is being sought from Cuba and Mexico to help teach the language.

“We are creating materials through NCERD, through our materials production unit that will help us in the absence of a trained Spanish teacher to certain levels in the primary school, in relation to secondary more than 80% of our schools will be able to do Spanish, however we are trying to work with some of our partners like Cuba and Mexico to see if we can get trained teachers, while we train ours”, Manickchand told journalists.

She was speaking on the sidelines of the swearing in on Wednesday of the Commission of Inquiry into the Mahdia dormitory fire.

As questions were raised about the Ministry of Education’s capacity to execute such a vision, considering the fact that some schools have insufficient Spanish teachers, President Irfaan Ali recently at a press briefing also hinted at the possibility of importing teachers from other countries but didn’t say from where.

“As of September, Spanish will be compulsory in our primary school curriculum… I have been told we have adequate capability especially at the secondary level to have this compulsory Spanish taught and we have engaged a number of bilateral partners to loan us human resource assets in this period of transition,” he said.

Manickchand on Wednesday also said that through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) programme, advanced level courses in Spanish will be offered to teachers and trained teachers at the Cyril Potter College of Education.

She admitted that while there may be a deficit of Spanish teachers her administration is continuously working to train more teachers.

When asked if rehiring retired teachers would be a recourse to complement the deficit of Spanish teachers Manickchand said “that is something our ministry always does, retired teachers who can still served are offered positions and the same goes for Spanish it would not be anyway different”.

The Education Minister told Stabroek News that every effort will be made to have a wider percentage of the student population gain access to Spanish lessons and teachers 

She added that the ministry through its Learning Channel has also been airing daily Spanish lessons. Manickchand stated that those who participated in Spanish classes, and practiced at least 15-20 minutes a day should have been proficient by now. 

Source: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2023/08/12/news/guyana/aid-from-cuba-mexico-being-sought-to-teach-spanish-manickchand/