Education Month activities to emphasise role of parents, teachers

Aug 31, 2008 News

Under the theme ‘Education of the child: a parent and teacher obligation’, the Ministry of Education will initiate the Education Month of activities tomorrow with a prayer breakfast at the Guyana Red Cross Society in Kingston.

The month of September has been slated as Education Month, in which a variety of activities are undertaken to emphasise the importance of education towards national development, according to Coordinator of the Distance Education and Information Unit, Ms Pauline Stanford.

She pointed out that, throughout the month, great focus will be placed on the notion that both teachers and parents have integral roles in ensuring that children are properly educated.

The activities for the month, Stanford disclosed, will include the observance of International Literacy Day on September 8.

Literacy Day will be observed under the theme ‘Literacy: key to good health and well being.’
On that day Ms Stanford said that reading tents will be set up at strategic locations to encourage reading activities.

The tents, she noted, will be characteristic of a reading environment where both parents and teachers will be tasked with reading to children.

This move, the Coordinator said, is geared at not only prompting teachers and parents to encourage reading among children, but members of communities and the country at large will be challenged to develop a habit of reading.

Following Literacy Day, an exhibition of resource materials that are being used to enhance the teaching and learning process will commence on September 9 at the National Centre for Educational Research Development (NCERD).

The exhibition, which will be opened to all schools and members of the public, will conclude on September 12th.

And as the week of activities progress, Ms Stanford said, there will be the launch of an innovative garden competition at the Practical Instruction Centre at D’Urban Backlands, which comes as part of the ongoing ‘Grow More’ initiative.

The J. O. F. Haynes Memorial Inter-Secondary School debating competitions will also be considered one of the major activities of the month.

Among the other activities which will require both teachers and students’ participation throughout the month are health fairs and physical displays.

Ms Stanford said that while Georgetown will be considered the hub of the activities, each administrative region will engage various activities.

There will also be panel discussions, viewpoints, and published articles in the press reflecting the obligation of teachers and parents to deal with the education of the child.

And in a bid to commend the performances of students, Ms Stanford said, there will be a solemn pause on September 30th where an Awards Ceremony will be held at the National Culture Centre to honour students who excelled at the regional and national examinations.

Stanford noted that while the Awards Ceremony will officially mark the end of the month of September, the activities will roll over to the month of October with the observance of International Teachers’ Day on October 5th.