Ministry nixes UG Masters of Education programme

Nov 21, 2009 News

The Ministry of Education has refused to recognise a Masters of Education Degree Programme that is currently being offered by the University of Guyana.
Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh, yesterday, said that until certain issues surrounding the programme are clarified his Ministry will in no way support it.
He said that he first learnt of the programme through an advertisement and was surprised since the University had at no point informed the Ministry of such an offering.
“I must say no consultation was held with the Ministry of Education about putting on this Masters programme at this point in time. I had mentioned some time ago that there was a need for such a programme for the teachers’ educator programme at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).”
According to him, a number of persons who are tasked with training the teachers at CPCE have Bachelor’s Degrees as their qualification, thus the need to have a special Masters programme.
Currently, the Minister disclosed, his Ministry is working in collaboration with the Novar South Eastern University of Florida in the United States.
The programme which is being funded by the Inter-American Development Bank has allowed for 42 teachers within the public education system to pursue a Masters of Education Degree.
But according to Baksh, “We were unable to have a second batch started because of the lack of funds. And then, lo and behold, the University of Guyana advertised a Masters of Education Degree. We felt that we should have been consulted in terms of the needs of the sector.”
“We should have been able to do an evaluation of the present Masters Degree programme to determine how well it went and to determine what were some of the problems. And we should have been able to look at areas of collaboration.
“Putting on a Masters Degree programme which is research-oriented you need to have some collaboration initially with some other universities as we are doing with the present Masters programme.”
Baksh has however underscored his concern that of the 42 teachers that are being trained, only seven have been able to complete and submit the requisite thesis in keeping with the programme’s deadline.
He noted though that the others are persevering in order to meet the extended time frame, adding that he is unable to deduce whether the programme is difficult as no evaluation has been conducted.
Moreover, the minister said that the local Ministry is seeking to build a collaborative relationship with the University of the West Indies through Professor Lawrence Carrington, the current Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana.
“We are trying to build a partnership with UWI because they have a lot to offer us. Already we have two Masters Degree programmes in the Faculty of Technology being run in Project Management. This is being done in close collaboration with UWI and I believe this is the route to go. That is my opinion.”
But even in the face of all of the partnership efforts, Baksh noted that there is also the need for quality assurance to ensure that a quality degree is being offered in the final analysis. Additionally, he related that there is need to examine the fact that 42 teachers have already been released for the current Masters programme.
He said that the Education Ministry will have to decide how many persons can be released at one time from the school system.
In the mean time though, the Minister said that his Ministry has taken a decision that until “we can have all these issues clarified the Ministry will not support this programme.” Baksh said that he has already indicated his concerns to the Vice Chancellor who has acknowledged by way of a letter that he is looking into the matter.

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Ministry nixes UG Masters of Education programme

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