Some 63 per cent of local teachers have received their COVID-19 vaccines following efforts rolled out to boost vaccine acceptance.

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand says that the ministry’s “relatively soft approach” of encouraging vaccination cannot continue forever.

Over the past few months, teachers have been able to speak to medical professionals about their concerns before taking vaccines, they received preferential access to the Sputnik V second doses when there was a shortage and they have also received letters encouraging them to get vaccinated.

These efforts, the Education Minister explained, were part of that “soft approach” taken to encourage vaccination. These measures and others, she said, resulted in a greater uptake of vaccines- allowing more than 60 per cent of teachers to become vaccinated.

But, the minister emphasised that there must be more widespread vaccination so that children can return to full face-to-face classes as before.

There were declined performances observed in several subject areas in Guyana and across the Caribbean at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE). And Manickchand said this evidences the need for a return to classes.

Importantly, too, she noted that declining performances were not seen just at these exit examinations. In fact, she said it was seen across the board. And, she opined that this was due to the learning losses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“… there is a clock on when teachers get vaccinated.

“If people are not vaccinated, this will be something that lives with us forever as a result of which we need to find people who can deliver the face-to-face education,” she said.

The minister also cautioned all individuals that without being vaccinated, they will not be able to adequately participate in society. And, she reminded that as per the updated COVID-19 Emergency Measures published in the Official Gazette, only fully vaccinated people are allowed to enter public buildings, including institutions of learning.

Cognisant of that, she implored teachers to get vaccinated so that schools can reopen fully. Schools are currently operating on a rotational basis, with some children able to attend at least once per week.

Importantly, the Education Minister stopped short of saying that there will be sanctions handed down from the Education Ministry if teachers do not get vaccinated.

She also said, “In the interest of our students, in the interest of our children… we must return to the classrooms in a safe way and that means that we must advise ourselves individually and collectively of the necessity to get vaccinated.”

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/11/05/more-than-60-of-teachers-vaccinated-manickchand-says-soft-approach-cannot-continue/

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand is hopeful that the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) results can be released this week.

Manickchand told the News Room on Wednesday that a number of schools have already resolved their queries, however, the ministry is still engaging the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) on several ungraded results.

“Regarding the announcement of our students with the most [grade ones], we are looking to do that later this week,” Manickchand said.

The Education Minister explained that the ministry is not in a position to say who Guyana’s top student is as yet since the review of the grades could ultimately change students’ grades.

“I want to make that distinction because while reviews are ongoing, things can change.”

CXC released the preliminary results of the exams that were written in June/July of this year last week to the education ministries in the region.

Minister Manickchand had told the News Room that teachers and students are not to be blamed for the ungraded results this year; last year, over 20 schools received ungraded results and this was because teachers did not submit School-Based Assessments (SBAs) on time or did not submit them properly.

This year, it is the failure of the CXC system to properly record the SBAs that were submitted.

Meanwhile, this year, Guyana’s overall performance at both the CAPE and CSEC exams was marginally higher than the rest of the region.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/10/20/manickchand-hoping-to-release-cxc-results-this-week/

resident of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) Mark Lyte said that some teachers, who are not yet vaccinated, are interested in the Pfizer jabs meant for children, but Education Minister Priya Manickchand says that only children will receive this vaccine now.

Earlier in the week, 146,250 doses of these vaccines arrived in Guyana but these are expected to be distributed exclusively to children. And during a Zoom meeting on Wednesday night, Lyte said that the union would make representation for interested teachers to get the Pfizer vaccines.

But, the Education Minister told the News Room that children need the protection that this specific vaccine offers. Importantly, this vaccine has been granted emergency use authorisation for use in children; the other vaccines used locally – the Sinopharm, Sputnik V, and AstraZeneca vaccines- have not received that authorisation for use in children.

“The world is in a crisis, these are the only vaccines that children can use and children are precious, we have to protect them,” Manickchand said.

Later, she reasoned that once all of the children are vaccinated, it may be possible for some other groups of people (that is, adults) to receive the vaccines.

Meanwhile, also responding to statements from the GTU, the minister said that the decision made by the government to require a negative PCR test result if employees are not vaccinated was not one made to punish anyone.

Instead, she contended that such decisions were made in the best interest of the population at large. And, she encouraged teachers to get vaccinated.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/08/26/pfizer-vaccines-only-for-children-now-manickchand-says-as-gtu-plans-to-make-request/

When the National Assembly resumed for Day Three of the ongoing budget debates on Thursday, former Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry opened the session with calls for the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) to recognise the groundwork laid by the former Coalition Government for several educational projects currently being rolled out.

Henry accused the PPP/C of merely keeping the gains and momentum which she started, a comment that was met with reproach by Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, who in turn, chastised the APNU+AFC for lacking vision and the ability to see projects to its finality.

“All the APNU+AFC is known for is starting projects they can’t finish. They are fancy talkers, sensational talk, everything sounds right, that’s how they roll into office,” Manaickchand told the House in her presentation that followed Henry’s.

The minister said the coalition erred when it let go of several senior education officials including Olato Sam, Marcel Hudson and Melcita Bovell. Now, with the return of these persons, Manickchand said the PPP/C is rolling out projects that the APNU+AFC simply couldn’t get done.

“Understand that is your weakness, you can never get it done and that’s the problem… we are rolling it out now,” Manickchand added.

A contentious issue was the ProFuturo-Guyana project, which is a Digital Learning Platform Agreement with the Organization of American States (OAS).

Henry claimed that she travelled to Washington while she was Minister of Education and initiated discussions, something she said the Coalition should be recognised for.

But Manickchand argued that years after the agreement was signed, nothing was done. She said the training of teachers under the agreement only commenced in October 2020, two months after the PPP/C came to office.

In addition, Manickchand said she is in possession of letters that Coursera and the Commonwealth wrote to Henry while she was a minister “begging her” to start the programme here. According to the Education Minister, her predecessor refused to start the programme.

She said the PPP/C started the programme and now Guyana ranks number one in the world for members enrolled and graduating from Coursera.  Figures produced by Manickchand show that 31,297 Guyanese took courses while 9,473 received certificates.

Another contentious issue was the construction of a new secondary school at Prospect, East Bank Demerara. Henry claimed that it was a product of the coalition’s successful interaction with the World Bank, something Manickchand said was simply delusional.

Manickchand said the negotiations started while the PPP/C was in office prior to 2015, where four schools were to be built but only three were built with a promise to build a fourth school. “Because you palavered and could not get it done, it became too expensive to do four schools.”

Manickchand claimed that even the three schools where construction commenced were not completed.

“We draw the school and left the money and none were finished… it took the PPP coming back to finish those schools and deliver the promise of universal secondary education,” she added.

Manickchand said the PPP/C also intends to restart the “Because We Care” cash grant for students, which has so far been increased and will be increased over the next five years to $50,000.

In addition, she said the “One Teacher for Laptop Project” will also restart since it was abolished by the Coalition, although money was sitting in a bank account to purchase the laptops and roll out the project.

“Yes, we rolling it out now!” she exclaimed.

Manickchand also slammed the opposition for failing to put in place a plan for teaching and keeping students engaged during the pandemic.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/02/25/manickchand-says-apnuafc-failed-to-deliver-educational-projects-to-finality/

Based on surveys done by the Ministry of Education, some 50 per cent of teachers are vaccinated and Minister of Education Priya Manickchand is optimistic that teachers will turn out to schools on Monday.

The new academic year begins on Monday, September 6 and each school will be reopening for face-to-face learning based on individualised plans crafted. This means that some schools will be reopening fully while others will have a shift system.

Ahead of schools’ reopening, however, the Education Ministry has mandated that teachers be vaccinated or produce a negative PCR COVID-19 test that was issued within the past seven days. This is in keeping with vaccination requirements instituted by the Government of Guyana and published in the Official Gazette.

The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) during a recent virtual meeting warned of strike action and subsequently joined with the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and the Guyana Trade Union Congress (GPSU) asking the High Court to revoke these measures.

The unions contend that such actions are forcing people to take the life-saving COVID-19 vaccines but Former Speaker of the National Assembly and attorney-at- Law Ralph Ramkarran says that these measures are lawful.

At the sidelines of an event on Wednesday, Minister Manickchand told reporters that the ministry will be gathering information on whether teachers will indeed engage in strike action and potentially stay away from schools on Monday.

She stated, “It would be foolish of me to say that teachers staying away wouldn’t have an impact (on the reopening of schools) because it will.”

The minister, however, noted, “Each teacher must decide that as each human being in this country must decide what they will do at this point.”

Manickchand also highlighted that the ministry’s individualised plans for the physical reopening of schools were drawn from teachers themselves. And as such, she was optimistic that teachers would turn out.

When asked if the ministry has put contingency plans in place should teachers strike, she answered: “I have not made those kinds of arrangements.

“I believe the teachers of this country will be responsible and I believe that they are aware that the education of the nation’s children rests on their shoulders.”

Still, she noted that based on surveys done and answered honestly by teachers, more than 50 per cent of teachers have been vaccinated. And, she said that additional teachers were coming forward to get their vaccines.

Earlier on Wednesday, some teachers were able to get their Sputnik V second dose at the children’s vaccination drive at Queen’s College in Georgetown.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/09/01/some-50-of-teachers-vaccinated-manickchand-hopeful-teachers-will-turn-out-monday/

Education Minister, Priya Manickchand on Tuesday said the goal for the reopening of schools remains September 2021 once it is safe to do so. She, however, assured that the decision on a date will only be made once health authorities give the green light.

But in so doing, the minister has also expressed concern with the incidents of severely ill COVID-19 children, calling on parents and teachers to ensure they are vaccinated.

The Education Minister, during an interview with the News Room on Tuesday, said the closure of schools over the last year has shown the weaknesses in the system with all international studies pointing to the harmful effect on education that the closure has engendered.

Schools in Guyana have been closed since March 2020 with reopening done for specific grades in preparation for local and regional examinations.

“The longer we stay home, the longer we keep school closed, the longer we will have to catch up [with] work and the more difficult it will be.

“We have to open school as early as we can, as safely as we can. There isn’t a reason we can’t go back to school in September,” Manickchand told the News Room.

She assured that the reopening of schools will be done to ensure the safety of children amid a call for all adults to be vaccinated.

“We have enough vaccines for herd immunity and we are trying to access vaccines for children, the Pfizer, but the aim remains to get back in September that’s why we have started the rollout of the cash grant and uniform voucher distribution,” the minister added.

Meanwhile, Manickchand said she was very concerned about reports of children becoming seriously ill because of COVID-19.

“Those children didn’t get COVID from the sky, they got it from people and we can stop this if we are all vaccinated,” she added.

She said vaccination of adults is the best option now. There are currently two children in the ICU at the Liliendaal Hospital; two others are also hospitalised at the same facility.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/07/13/manickchand-sees-no-reason-schools-should-not-reopen-in-september/

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand says that all students heading into the examinations offered by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) must be allowed to view their School-Based Assessment (SBA) grades before they sit the examination.

“We are still hearing complaints that students are not seeing their SBA grades before they go into exams,” the Education Minister said on Friday during the announcement of this year’s CXC results.

She called out teachers for “lording over” the results.

For the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), SBAs form a component of the grades that students ultimately receive.

These SBAs are done in the month leading up to the sitting of the examinations, and allow the students to engage in research, practical sessions and an application of the content learnt.

Last year, however, it was revealed that teachers’ failure to submit grades for students’ SBAs correctly led to ungraded CSEC and CAPE results.

At the press conference, Manickchand stressed that all students must receive these grades before they head into the examinations so that they would be able to gauge their performance and readiness beforehand.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/11/05/lording-over-sbas-will-not-be-allowed-manickchand/

The Ministry of Education met on Monday with students of the North Ruimveldt Multilateral Secondary School who are scheduled to begin their Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination shortly. Also apart of the meeting were the parents of the students.

On Saturday last, the teaching block of the school was destroyed by fire. This building housed the classrooms that the students would have used to write their CSEC examinations. Therefore, the Ministry of Education took quick action to decide on the way forward, among which was to consult with the parents and students.

Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said that the teaching block has been destroyed to the point that it cannot be used at all in the immediate future. She said that the meeting was necessary since the dates for the other examinations cannot be shifted as was done for the Foreign Languages Oral test that was scheduled for Monday.

She committed the Government of Guyana and the Ministry of Education support to the parents, students and teachers to help them through this period. Flowing the meeting, four main decisions were taken.

The majority of parents agreed that they prefer students to write their examinations at the same venue and not to be split up at different locations. Secondly, it was decided that if students have to be transported to another location, the Ministry of Education and the Government of Guyana will absorb the full cost and any other associated cost.

Thirdly, it was agreed that it is the preference of those present, that the examination should be written in the school’s auditorium which was not damaged by the fire.

Minister Manickchand said that this could be facilitated once all clearance is given from the Guyana Fire Service (GFS), the Guyana Power Light Inc. (GPL) and the Chief Electrical Engineer that the examinations can be written safely and without disruption.

Fourthly, it was agreed that if the examinations cannot be written in the auditorium, then it is preferred that the examinations be written at a location that is not another school, such as the Cyril Potter College of Education, the Police Officers Mess or the University of Guyana.

Minister Manickchand said that the Ministry will give the GFS and GPL until Wednesday to get the auditorium ready for use. She said if the building cannot be ready by then, a decision will be made by the Ministry of Education as to where the examinations will be written. This too was agreed on by the parents and students present.

The Education Minister told parents that their children need their support, love and encouragement the most particularly during this time. She said that there has been one common factor with most children that perform well and that is the involvement of parents in their child’s education.

She told the students that their emotions regarding the tragedy are not misplaced. She encouraged them that when they are writing their examinations to try their best to focus on all that they learnt and how brilliantly they will apply that to their paper to let their performance be the proof of their resilience.

She added, “If there is something that drives you even further in this period it must be that the students who wrote their CSEC the week after their school burnt down performed excellently. That must be what drives you.”

Minister Manickchand also pledged the Ministry’s support to provide any psychosocial support that might be needed by teachers and students of the school. Students were given a number that they can call if they need guidance and counselling during this difficult time.

She encouraged students not to feel as though they have lost their school but to ensure what they have learnt while attending the institution is reflected in their behaviour and conduct as they go into the world of work and furthering their academic studies.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/06/21/manickchand-meets-parents-students-of-fire-ravaged-north-ruimveldt-secondary-school/

The National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) will likely be held in July/August this year, according to Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand.

In a social media post on Thursday, Manickchand said the exams will not be held in March/April as per usual due to the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She further noted that the country is also awaiting the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) to announce dates for the 2021 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) before setting a date for NGSA.

“CXC has not announced dates for their CSEC and CAPE exams and the country may not have the capacity to run three major exams at the same time and maintain the high integrity of the exams,” the Education Minister explained.

As it relates to the structure of NGSA, Minister Manickhand said that after consultations with teachers and parents the “the most desirable position would be to have what we are most accustomed to in the country.”

However, there are other options which range from “having an assessment as is known: paper one and paper two, to not having an assessment at all and using the grades two and four (assessment results),” Minister Manickchand said.

Earlier in the year, several teachers during the consultations shared their views on the matter and made meaningful recommendations on how the ministry should address the issue.

Meanwhile, Manickchand said schools will remain closed for face to face learning for the month of February with the exception of Grades 10, 11 and 12. Last year October, the National COVID-19 Task Force gave the go-ahead for schools to reopen for those grades.

“All the other grades will continue to be engaged in the way that they have been engaging. We are advised by the Ministry of Health that we cannot reopen any other grade and level at this point,” the minister said.

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 the radio along with the distribution of worksheets to the various schools.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/02/05/ngsa-likely-to-be-held-in-july-august-manickchand/

(STATEMENT BY THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION)

(August 19, 2021) – The National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) 2021 has successfully come to an end having been administered under the safest conditions in the middle of a pandemic.

The Ministry of Education is grateful for all the work done by the teachers, education officers, parents and our students to rise above all the challenges that our education system has been facing for over a year.

A lot of work was done to prepare our pupils for this examination which include the distribution of study packages containing all the needed textbooks, the creation of a consolidated curriculum and extending the reach of our distance learning mechanisms such as the Guyana Learning Channel.

The marking of the examination began on Wednesday. On Saturday last the Honourable Minister of Education Priya Manickchand engaged the 35 table leaders as a group at the Tutorial High School one of two marking centres.

The other centre is North Georgetown Secondary. Markers are assigned to tables, which include one table leader and seven markers.

While there, the Education Minister outlined and reinforced the roles of these teachers in the process and asked that their efforts produce results that cannot be questioned.

On Wednesday, August 18, 2021, Minister Manickchand visited the aforementioned locations to engage the 210 markers for the four subjects, Mathematics, Social Studies, Science and English.

These markers and table leaders are teachers mostly of primary schools and are employees of the CXC examining body.

She implored markers to pay attention and be careful with the duty they have agreed to perform. She said that the outcome is to have accurate results which will depend on how much care they take in their marking.

The Minister told them that if they needed to ask for clarification a dozen times they must, as the children they are serving are depending on them to award marks earned and particularly because the questions may produce answers from “the lived experience” of children and no examining body in their typical answer key could cater for all that children could experience and therefore write.

To make this point, the Education Minister referenced results over the last five years whereby reviews resulted in changed marks and school placements. Last year alone 30% of the reviews resulted in changed grades.

The Minister reminded that not every parent knows of the review process, can access it on time and pay the requisite fee to get a review so even more resolve is necessary that not a single mistake will be made in this originating process.

She said that such an occurrence does not augur well for the integrity of the examination system which can lead to distrust by parents, students and the general public in the system.

The Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) has been managing the NGSA examination since 2016, but disclaims knowledge of the changed grades. The body has however, been asked by the Minister to tighten and carefully manage all processes at this year’s marking centres to mitigate against inaccurate marking.

During her engagement with teachers, Minister Manickchand said that many policies had been changed this year, including that children over 12 years and seven months will not be penalised because of their age and that total scores will be rounded up to the closest whole number.

Further, all reviews will be managed by CXC which sets, administers and evaluates the examination.

The Ministry of Education is pleased this year that markers were taken from all over Guyana from regions where teachers have never come from.

The Ministry feels more confident that the results which will be announced in October will reflect accurately what our students have earned.

Source: https://newsroom.gy/2021/08/20/manickchand-implores-ngsa-markers-to-take-great-care-seek-clarifications/