The National Assembly last Thursday passed unopposed a $25 billion budget for the Ministry of Education which Minister Priya Manickchand has described as “all about responding to COVID-19”.
Addressing the Assembly during day three of the 2021 Budget Debate, Manickchand challenged her predecessor’s contention that the Budget has nothing for the management of COVID-19.
“Given the global focus on modifications for education in light of the pandemic I was expecting to see a more robust and sustainable plan to mtigate effects and aftershock of COVID-19,” APNU+AFC MP Nicolette Henry had told the House.
In response Manickchand stressed that the Education budget is all about COVID-19 “if you know how to read it.”
“When we increase print and non-print by 9% its to cater for worksheets (published in daily newspapers). When we increase [the allocation for] Janitorial and Cleaning supplies by 26.4% it is to cater for the excess cleaning we know we will have. We increased Cleaning and Extermination Services by 41%, its for the cleaning we know we will have. These are all lines in the Budget,” the Minister passionately declared.
The Minister went on to attack her predecessor’s record for the implementation of Capital projects telling the House that Henry completed nothing.
“All those projects you started we rolling them out now. You couldn’t get it done,” Manickchand said before adding that Henry like the rest of her government was unable to deliver on any project begun.
“You started Good Hope [School construction] can’t finish it. We gotta come and finish it. Started Parfait Harmonie [School] can’t finish it. We gotta come and finish it. Started the Spotlight Initiative [aimed at combating domestic violence] can’t finish it…the Smart classroom can’t finish it,” she declared even as Speaker Manzoor Nadir cautioned that all presentations should be addressd to him rather than across the aisle at other Parliamentarians.
Manickchand accepted the caution and restructured her references stating instead that APNU+AFC was nothing but talk.
“The APNU problem is just that…they are talkers. Just that sexy talkers, sensational talkers. Everything sounds right that’s how they rolled into office. Their problem is they could not deliver,” the Education Minister declared.
She charged that though Henry held the post of Education Minister for 143 days after COVID-19 surfaced here , the Minister did nothing to adapt the Ministry policy to cater for its impact.
“Not a single worksheet, plan or draft yet it is the same officers who are working now. All they needed was policy guidance,” the Minister said.
In a similar period, from August 2,2020 to Boxing Day the Ministry had crafted worksheets, employed the Learning Channel towards instruction and re-opened schools for examination classes.
In 2021 the Minister indicated that her Ministry will be expanding the Learning Channel to six channels dedicated to learning. These channels will also be introduced to Amerindian villages.
“We are going to the villages with television sets, solar systems, electricity and satellite,” Manickchand promised while declaring that equity must be more than talk. “It has to be something we do that’s tangible,” she said.
The Ministry is also expected to have its own radio station so that there can be a dedicated learning channel on radio since there are still places in Guyana where radio is the only means of communication.
These projects are catered for in the Ministry’s Capital Expenditure of $5.455 billion.
Under Program 402: Training and Development the Ministry has allocated $664.6 million to the Resource Development Centre as a provision for learning and radio channels, equipment and payment of retention.
Specifically the project which is funded by government includes the completion of satellite and solar power systems and the provisions for attenna, satellite downlink and solar systems, televisions, transmitters and computers. The objective is to improve access and connectivity to the radio and learning channels by December 31,2021.
A total of $324.8 million is recorded has having already been spent on the endeavour in 2020.
Similarly the “COVID-19 Accelerated Programme” funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) sees $550 million allocated for the development and production of learning packages, the provision of interactive radio, television and web-based lessons, the provision of a COVID-19 sensitisation programme and psychological support, the provision for hygiene hubs, sanitary facilities and personal protective equipment for learners and teachers as well as the provision of training.
According to the budget this project was introduced in 2020 and has already seen an expenditure of $175.2 million.
The Safety Nets for Vulnerable populations project is another Capital project under the Ministry which is expected to provide pandemic relief.
According to the Budget this two-year $3.19 billion project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank is expected to develop educational resources for radio and television, fund the distribution of textbooks, improve water supply solutions and provide student loan relief for students of the University of Guyana.