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Wide-ranging changes announced for education sector

Oct 07, 2010 News

– TV station on the cards

The setting up of a TV station to assist with education delivery and the computerization of all secondary schools were among wide-ranging changes for the education sector Minister of Education Shaik Baksh announced yesterday.
Baksh said that the TV station would be set up early next year. All secondary schools would be equipped with computer laboratories next year, he added. This would be the basis of the government push for distance education and e-learning.
The programme comes on the heels of President Bharrat Jagdeo’s announcement that the government would provide laptops to 90,000 households in the country.
Baksh made his announcements at the Ministry of Education’s 14th annual awards ceremony for top performers at various examinations.
He said that in the drive to push ICT, the Ministry of Education is preparing students to be able to take Information Technology as part of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams offered by the Caribbean Examinations Council in the next three to four years. Thereafter, he said that IT would become a compulsory subject.
Baksh announced these plans for the education sector as part of what he said was a vision to modernize Guyana and eliminate illiteracy.
He said that the TV station would assist in the delivery of education and that a multi-media centre at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development is being staffed to develop content for the TV station.
He said the education sector is also being transformed to inculcate positive values and behaviours in children, and not just have them strive for academic excellence.
“In education lies our salvation as a country,” he stated.
He pointed to findings of the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development that the education system in Guyana and the Caribbean tens to focus more on academics that on labour market competencies.
As a result, he said that the Ministry was looking to redefine education, and hence there was need to redefine the curriculum to meet these needs.
The report of the Commission also pointed to the fact that passes in Mathematics and English are slipping across the region, except in Guyana, where the pass rate is on the increase. For this year, he said that the pass rate moved from 50 percent to 59 percent for English and for Mathematics, the percentage moved from 31 percent to 34 percent.
Baksh said that he has met with principals of all schools to encourage them to rededicate themselves to the task at hand.
He said one of the main challenges facing the Ministry is the dropout rate in schools, though he said he has seen some improvements in the last three years.
The Minister linked school dropouts to unemployment, teenage pregnancy, crime and violence.
Baksh said it is necessary to reform the education sector to ensure more children stay in school.
Towards this end, he alluded to the success seen with Technical and Vocational Education. He said that schools where such subjects were introduced there has been a decline in school drop outs.
Baksh said that no student must be left behind and the education system must enable everyone to achieve their dreams and aspirations.

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