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Continuous assessment key to sustained success in school system
– Education Minister
There is need for greater emphasis to be placed on continuous assessment if successful achievements are to be sustained in the school system.
Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh
Education Minister Shaik Baksh made this disclosure during his most recent press briefing, last Friday.
According to him, if better results are expected at the secondary level, there must be an improvement in the delivery of education at the primary level.
And in order to gain the desired results this year, the minister said, primary education will be under tremendous focus.
“Special emphasis will be given to literacy and numeracy at the primary level, if we are to have better results at the secondary level,” the minister asserted.
Additionally, he noted that there is also need to overcome some of the inequalities in the system.
He pointed out that while the ministry has been able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in terms of access and enrolment, the whole question of inequality between and within regions must be addressed.
“We are already starting to deal with this matter. For example, the schools in the South of Georgetown have not been performing as well as compared to those in North Georgetown. We have to put more resources, train teachers, and we have to work with the parent/teacher associations and the communities to ensure that these schools perform better.”
For this reason, the minister revealed, strong monitoring and evaluation systems will be put in place.
He observed, though, that while intervention is crucial to garner success, there still exists the challenge of teachers’ motivation, which must be addressed with equal urgency.
“Teachers’ motivation, support and professional development, this cannot be overemphasised. We will not succeed unless we get a larger percentage of our teachers to be more committed and dedicated to the task…”
In this regard, the minister said, the ministry will be tasked with examining teachers’ remuneration and conditions of service. He noted that there is need for a paradigm shift in the education sector.
He expounded that there is need for a change in the approaches and the underlying assumptions of the sector.
“Historically, the education system has been built in an authoritarian way, with a top down approach. We have to start working at the level of the school and the teachers to get them to participate, to get them to be involved, to get them to be dedicated…and this is no easy task.”
As such, Minister Baksh said, he has challenged all the education managers at the central ministry to support the efforts of the sector to be self-motivating and self-generating, with a view to enhancing the quality of the delivery of education.
Moreover a professional development programme will commence this year, the minister said, to give teachers more support and encouragement.
Additionally, the minister said, the ministry intends to work closely this year with the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) so as to really get teachers to come on board.
And according to the minister, the Government has shown its commitment in the past year to improving the education system through the allocation of the highest percentage of the budget, a move he is optimistic will continue this year.
Baksh based his optimism on the notion that the role of education is becoming increasingly important in the face of the international financial situation, since it could serve as an avenue to surmount the impending challenges.
As such, he noted that every effort will be made in Guyana to continue to direct immense focus on the delivery of education.
In this regard, the minister disclosed, the education system is better prepared to undertake the changes that are required to improve education generally in Guyana, and to ensure that it contributes to the necessary modernisation process.
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