The Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) will soon have a full online school to train teachers who cannot access its physical facilities, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand announced on Friday.

She said the aim is to create a strong teaching service, noting that in 1992, there were about 30 per cent trained teachers and now, approximately about 80 per cent of teachers are trained in Guyana.

“We still have a lot of untrained teachers in the classroom and so very soon; I have great pleasure in saying very soon, and this is the first time I am publicly saying it, we are going to be launching off at CPCE, a full online school.

“We don’t mean teaching on the internet alone, we mean it’s a full online school with books and resources and you can register there and tutoring will happen there,” the minister explained.

With this new initiative, the Education Minister said there is already a huge increase in the number of applications for this year.

“So instead of seeing 800 as our intake, we have already gotten about 2,000 applications for this year.”

According to Manickchand, the online service at CPCE can also be offered to teachers in the Caribbean and even internationally for those desirous of being qualified in the profession.

“We have to have good school teachers, trained teachers; teachers who are interested in not just turning up and opening school doors but interested in teaching effectively, making sure not only that I stand up and deliver in the classroom but that it reaches every child,” Manickchand noted.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a severe impact on the education sector as schools remain closed for majority of students.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/02/05/cpce-to-provide-online-training-for-teachers/

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, on Tuesday again reiterated that the ministry will not be tolerant of lengthy delays for its projects. She made this point following a visit to the Good Hope Secondary School.

The school is currently under construction but should have been completed since January 2020 following a contract awarded in 2018 to BK International Inc. The Managing Director of the company, Brian Tiwari and his company’s Chief Engineer, Ganesh Sawh, gave the commitment that the school will be completed by May 22, 2021.

According to Sawh, the major aspect of the project left to be completed relates to the electrical work on the school. Minister Manickhand impressed upon the contracting company the importance of the school to Region Four, particularly the students living in communities along the East Coast of Demerara.

She said that the school will accommodate 1,000 students and will allow the Ministry of Education to eliminate all Primary Tops within the region. A Primary Top is a department within a primary school that delivers secondary education to students who do not have access to a secondary school.

She said that the decision to construct the school was conceived in 2014 and funding was provided by the World Bank through the Guyana Secondary Education Improvement Project (GSEIP). She said it is disappointing that an entire generation was deprived of benefitting from the school since it could not have been completed during the last five years.

According to the Education Minister, children from villages such as Paradise, Plaisance, Enmore, Good Hope and other communities along the coast will benefit from the school. Minister Manickchand said that the Ministry of Education wants to have the school ready for the new school year which begins in September 2021.

She said that last September, the ministry found itself in an unfortunate position following the National Grade Six Assessment whereby students were awarded a place at the school but due to it being incomplete and not having its full complement of staff, the students had to be given the option of being admitted to other secondary schools.

At that time, Minister Manickchand had said that those students will be given the opportunity to return to the Good Hope Secondary when it is completed. The contractor was told on Tuesday that they are being held to their word for a May 22 completion.

“We have 1,000 children that can come into the school and add to the manpower and skills set that the country has, and make their communities better,” Minister Manickchand noted.

When the school is completed, it will have similar facilities as the school completed at Westminster in Region Three. The two schools are among three that are funded by the World Bank under the GSEIP. The third school will be constructed at Prospect on the East Bank of Demerara. These infrastructure projects in the sector are of great importance as the Ministry works towards Guyana achieving Universal Secondary Education within the next five years. (Modified press release from Ministry of Education)

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/04/14/good-hope-secondary-school-to-be-completed-by-may-22-bk-contractor/

Dorm schools, like other secondary schools across Guyana, will be reopened in accordance with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination programme for children.

This is according to Minister of Education Priya Manickchand, who was engaging reporters on Wednesday at the sidelines of an event held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) at Liliendaal, Georgetown.

The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed to children aged 12 to 18 years; a majority of the children and adolescents in this age group are those who attend secondary schools.

In November, when some secondary school levels were reopened, those who attend schools with dormitory facilities, were required to isolate in the dorms for the rest of the school term or be transferred to a secondary school nearest to them. This was part of the efforts to minimise the spread of COVID-19.

On Wednesday, the minister explained, “Dorm schools are special because of their very nature, there’s a lot of community, communal living that happens there.

“The advice from the Ministry of Health is that we should limit the number of unvaccinated persons in dorm schools and that ranges from students and (administrative) staff to teachers.”

As such, it will be necessary for dorm schools to operate as though they are in a ‘bubble’. This means that there will be COVID-19 restrictions on students and staff.

Minister Manickchand also said that there are also measures in place for those parents who would like to keep their children at home.  Recently, the Education Ministry in a statement highlighted that parents who choose not to send their child to school on the days they are scheduled to attend will be enjoined with the responsibility of ensuring that the child is continuously engaged at home.

Importantly, though, the ministry said that children at home will be able to access all of the ministry’s materials on the ministry’s website.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/09/02/dorm-schools-will-reopen-based-on-vaccination-rollout/

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand engaged in a pre-Phagwah celebration on Friday. Ahead of today’s celebrations, the government has announced restrictions, including prohibiting large events and limiting the attendance at mandirs to 40% capacity, due to COVID-19. Gatherings on trucks, canters or other vehicles carrying alcohol are not allowed. The Health Ministry has also advised that masks must be worn during celebrations and that social distancing be observed. While Minister Manickchand is wearing a mask in keeping with COVID-19 guidelines, some of her fellow ministers and members of their staff were seen not wearing masks during similar activities at their respective offices last Friday. (Photo from Priya Manickchand’s Facebook page)

Source: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2021/03/28/photos/an-early-start-2/

The first of its kind in one of the country’s largest housing schemes, La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara, the Westminster Secondary School is finally complete and will be one of the most resourced schools in the country, says Minister of Education Priya Manickchand.

After a visit to the spanking new facility, constructed at a cost of $1 billion, the Minister said it is expected to be handed over in the new week.

“This school as you saw, is ready for us to take and for it to be handed over to us and as you can see it is a beautiful school. It is probably going to be one of our most resourced schools, given the labs and so on that we’ve seen, and we want to make sure that the children of Region Three can benefit from it,” the Minister said.

The project is one of two, with the aims of achieving universal secondary education.

Once opened, the Minister explained, it will enable the Ministry to close “primary top schools” in the area – which are primary school that allow secondary students to continue their education as no other secondary institution is available.

“So you continue on in the same primary school doing secondary work, but that of course is not desirable; it’s not likely to give the kind of results that we’re looking for. It is not likely to give students the opportunities they need to survive best in this world and that’s why we conceived of these schools in the first place,” Minister Manickchand added.

The other facility, at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, is yet to be completed, and according to the Minister, it is presenting itself “as a disaster” in terms of a completion date.

Nevertheless, she said, Government is pleased with the outcome of Westminster Secondary.

The facility will be branded a Grade B school with the grading eventually improving in the coming years, Minister Manickchand said.

“It is going to be fully staffed with competent trained graduate teachers and auxiliary staff and it’s going to be a school that we will use as a model to show once there are resources and trained teachers, children from anywhere can do well.”

The contract for the facility was inked on October 1, 2018, while construction began on October 18 of the same year by R. Bassoo and Sons Construction Inc. as the constructing company. The consulting firm was Deen and Partners/SRKN Engineering.

The construction of the school was funded by the World Bank through the Guyana Secondary Education Improvement Project (GSEIP), which began during the first quarter of 2015.

The school has the capacity to house 1,000 students.

The Westminister Secondary school will have classrooms that cater for students with disabilities along, with modern Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) departments for Home Economics, Home Management and Clothing and Textile.

Added to that, there will be an Information Technology, Mathematics, Language, Audio Visual laboratories, along with a music room and a dance studio.

The school will also house Biology, Chemistry and Physics labs with a Unit of Allied Arts, a modern Library, a multi-purpose hall and a modern administration block.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/04/08/1b-westminster-secondary-to-be-one-of-the-most-resourced-schools-education-minister/

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand has announced that the eligibility deadline qualifying new entrants into the public education system for the Government of Guyana’s Because We Care cash grant has been extended to July 31, 2021.

At the beginning of the distribution of the cash grant, parents or guardians of students who are now entering the public school system had to have applied for entry on or before June 30, 2021. However, Minister Manickchand said that the date has been extended and this will result in an additional 3,300 students being able to benefit from the grant.

Over the last two days, Minister Manickchand has been spearheading the distribution of the grant in Region Four on the East Coast of Demerara. The scheduled distribution in the region will end on Monday, August 9, 2021, with over $600M being transferred from the state to families in the region.

While at the Swami Purnananda Primary, the Enmore Hope Primary and the Paradise Primary schools, she told parents that though the grant cannot cater to all the needs of their children, it is still solid assistance to parents as they invest in the education of their children. Minister Manickchand also explained that the grant is not only for educational items but that it can be used to purchase items that serve children and support them as they continue along their academic journey.

The Education Minister said that she believes any expenditure in families is a good expenditure. She reminded parents that the grant will increase to $50,000 per child within the Government’s first term in office. She said that the Government had promised to restore the cash grant and fulfilled that promise, hence Guyanese should not question whether the grant will indeed be increased.

As it relates to the reopening of schools, Minister Manickchand said that the Ministry is certain that the best way to deliver education at this time is to have children return to the classroom for face to face teaching and learning. She said that this is highly dependent on the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

She explained to the teachers and parents that if they are among those persons who have not taken the COVID-19 vaccine then they are in the way of schools reopening for face to face learning. She said that the percentage of vaccinated persons in Guyana needs to increase before children are allowed back into the classroom. As the distribution of the cash grant continues across Guyana, vaccination stations will be established as far as is possible to give parents and teachers the opportunity to be vaccinated. It must be noted that this is not a requirement or prerequisite of parents to uplift the grant.

According to the Education Minister based on what the Ministry has been observing as it relates to the performance of students at the various levels, it is necessary to reopen schools.

Minister Manickchand encouraged teachers to go and get vaccinated while it is free and available, “because we need to make sure that we can get back into the classroom because the other types of education, I am warning, I am cautioning, I am inviting you to look at it, are not working. And it is not the teachers that will suffer, it is these children you want to see shine,” she said.

Minister Manickchand said that the more persons that take the vaccine the likelihood of spreading and contracting the virus are significantly reduced. She said that Guyana has to be able to defy what it is facing at this time.

She promised that once schools reopen, parents, teachers and students will see a difference in the way education is delivered.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/08/07/over-3000-additional-children-to-benefit-as-deadline-extended-for-because-we-care-cash-grant/

The Education Ministry is consulting Grade Six teachers and parents across the country on the way forward for this year’s National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA). The exams play a vital role in determining what secondary school a child attends.

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand stated that 2021 should possess a higher degree of certainty as the country continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Going forward, the Minister said that she hopes the lessons learnt in 2020 are used in 2021 for the delivery of education.

The Minister further thanked those teachers that have stepped up during this time to ensure their students continue to be engaged despite being at home since March 2020.

Other exams to be addressed include the Grades Two, Four, Six and Nine examinations. However, at this point the NGSA is being dealt with first. As it relates to NGSA, whatever decision is made will be guided by the trajectory of the COVID-19 virus and the advice given by the Ministry of Health.

Meanwhile, Chief Education Officer, Dr. Marcel Hutson stated during remarks that the Ministry recognizes the importance of primary education and has done many things to reach children so that they remain engaged as much as possible. He explained that timetabled content for all grades is being aired on the Guyana Learning Channel while the Broadcasts to Schools and the Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) programs continue to be aired on radio.

During Thursday’s meeting, several teachers shared their views on the matter and made meaningful recommendations on how the Ministry should address the matter.

Some of the options discussed included having students write the full examination on content right up to Grade Six or the full examination but on content up to Grade Five. The meeting also examined the option of not having children write papers one and two or have them write both papers but with reduced questions. It was also recommended that students can complete projects as a means of assessment.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/01/08/education-ministry-consults-grade-six-teachers-parents-on-ngsa-2021/

With efforts being made to transition students into physical classrooms, Education Minister Priya Manickchand expects that tertiary institutions will return to face-to-face classes in the New Year.

She said this while speaking at an end-of-year media engagement at the Cara Lodge on Monday. As part of that engagement, she highlighted some of the ministry’s plans for 2022.

Manickchand previously belaboured the learning losses recorded during the pandemic including students being unable to access online learning with some dropping out of school.

On Monday, she raised this point again, emphasising the need for students to return to schools including those attending tertiary institutions such as the University of Guyana (UG), the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) centres across Guyana.

“We cannot keep institutions closed because our learners are being severely affected,” Manickchand said.

The Education Minister, however, did not provide an expected date for the reopening of these schools.

The return to face-to-face classes, she explained, comes as people have been provided with the opportunity to get vaccinated and even now, get booster shots.

UG has already commenced a phased return to some in-person activities and with the enduring pandemic placing a strain on students and members of staff, the university could return to face-to-face classes in March 2022.

The university, according to Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Professor Paloma Mohamed-Martin, will allow some online classes to continue as the university aims for a blended mode of teaching.

Similarly, on Monday, Manickchand said that she hopes that these tertiary institutions will integrate blended learning in their delivery of course content going forward.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/12/21/ug-cpce-technical-schools-should-return-to-face-to-face-classes-in-2022/

The Ministry of Education today announced that two Queen’s College students are the top performers at the regional level for the 2020 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) assessments.

At a ceremony held at the NCERD building, Kingston,  Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand said that results were based on data received from the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).

Manickchand said that at the CSEC country and regional level, Bhedesh Persaud has topped the Caribbean with 22 Grade Ones and one Grade Two, while Zane Ramotar has topped at CAPE for the country and the regional level, with 14 Grade Ones and a Grade Two.

The Minister also said that Guyana has secured two of seven awards at the CSEC level and four of five awards at the CAPE level.

A Ministry release follows:

The Ministry of Education has been informed by CXC that the students named below will receive awards for outstanding performance in the July/August 2020 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.  

CSEC

1. Bhedesh Persaud – Queen’s College 

Most Outstanding Overall 
Most Outstanding in Sciences 
 

2. Nyron Seoukienandan – St. Rose’s High School 

Most Outstanding in Business 
 

3. Anthony Sukra – New Amsterdam Secondary School  

Most Outstanding in Technical and Vocational Studies
 

4. Shania Sattaur – Brickdam Secondary School  

Most Outstanding in Principles of Accounts 
 

CAPE 

Zane Ramotar 
Most Outstanding Overall 
Most Outstanding in Natural Sciences 

Source: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2021/05/19/news/guyana/qc-students-top-the-caribbean-at-csec-cape/

Over 13, 000 pupils who wrote the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) this year may not start their secondary education until January 2022.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand Friday said that what is usually the Christmas term may have to be removed for these pupils since the academic year 2021/2022 will not be dragged out.

“Different schools are going to put different things in school; I suspect online, I suspect maybe worksheets, it may be that we don’t start grade seven until January; we may have to cut a term out of grade seven for this year and we start it in January,” Manickchand said as a ceremony to announce this year’s NGSA results.

The minister said the public will be notified when these pupils can start school.

Manickchand explained that a consolidated curriculum was established for these specific pupils. The curriculum has been split from 40 weeks to 20 weeks. During the reduced schedule, the pupils will have to cover topics they would have missed in Grade Six.

Meanwhile, Manickchand said she is satisfied with this year’s performance at the exams given the difficult circumstances some students had to face and also given the fact that the majority of the pupils did not engage in face-to-face learning.

“I thought we would have done a lot worse; I was very nervous about it – to deliver education differently from the way the country has done it since we came into existence,” Manickchand stated.

Manickchand is also questioning the necessity for extra classes and lessons for Grade Six pupils given the results attained this year without extra lessons.

Analysis for math after lowest past rate recorded 

While Social Studies and English recorded the highest pass rates in recent years, Mathematics and Science recorded the lowest pass rates.

English recorded the highest pass rate with 65.71 per cent of the pupils passing; some 56.3 per cent of students passed Social Studies. These subjects have recorded the highest pass rates over the past five years

The pass rates for Mathematics and Science decreased. Science had a 40.12 per cent pass rate while for Mathematics there was a 36.5 per cent pass rate.

“We have to do a deeper analysis but what I am being told by teachers…as a matter of conversations that we have been having with teachers, they found it very difficult to teach Maths when they are not in a classroom setting,” Manickchand revealed.

She said the ministry will have to find other ways to engage pupils with Mathematics as the pandemic continues to spread in the country.

Additionally, the ministry will also be examining pathways for children who received a score of zero on their exams. Once the ministry receives the results from CXC, the ministry will be able to see from which schools pupils would have received a score of zero. An assessment will then be done to find out if it was a problem with either teachers or parents.

“You have to find individualised pathways for that child or else you are failing them before you even begin.”

“You can’t put a child who cannot write and put them into secondary schools and expect them to function,” Manickchand said.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/10/16/ngsa-graduates-may-start-secondary-school-in-january/