An abridged Report on Parliamentary Sectoral Committee On Social Services

May 22, 2011 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

By Latchmin Budhan-Punalall, MP

The Parliamentary Sectoral Committee is very disappointed with the Minister of Human Services and Social Services Hon. Member Priya Manickchand. The Minister disregarded the request to attend the Committee to answer questions pertinent to Social Services. The committee wrote the Minister six times from 2008-2011
v   December 3, 2008 the committee agreed that it needs information on the regulation and management of state owned homes for Senior Citizens and Street Children and other related institutions. The committee requested a list of homes and policies on homes for Senior Citizens.
v   February 24, 2009 the Minister was sent a reminder to attend.
v   June 18, 2009 the Minister was sent another reminder requesting her kind cooperation to submit information in regard to the Homes for the elderly.
v   July 9, 2009 the Minister and her Team of advisers were invited to make a presentation on Social Services on the issue of Domestic Violence.
v   On April 6, 2011 the committee requested information on the operation of different agencies and organizations under the Minister’s ministry specifically the general operations and functions of the Guyana Legal Aid Clinic and the Commission of the Elderly Committee.
v   February 15, 2011 the Committee forwarded a letter and acknowledged that at the Committee’s request the Minister had finally decided to do a presentation on Old Age Pension which the Minister never did.
As a member of this committee representing the Alliance For Change I am dissatisfied with the Minister’s non-response to this Committee. I want to remind the Minister of Standing Order 86 (5) (b) which states that “ Sectoral Committee shall have the authority to request the Minister assigned responsibility for the sector to submit written or oral information, including government documents and records about any specific areas of Government policies and administration”. I hope the Minister will take note and respond appropriately.
Representatives from the Ministry of Education made their presentation on the topic “Education Policy with regard to Literacy, Numeracy, Punctuality and the Health and Family Life Education – HFLE”.
Ø   The Chief Planning Officer Mrs. Evelyn Hamilton in her presentation mentioned the Ministry of Education’s 5-year plan from 2009-2013. There are seven major strategies to address issues in the proposed plan.
Ø   A draft report on the evaluation of the implementation of HFLE in schools Curriculum by the Ministry of Education shows a positive result. However it is noted in the report that an inspection of teachers’ records and one on one interviews with them found that:
o   Teachers were teaching HFLE content but not developing the skills as required.
o   Teachers are unclear about the infusion method and lack the skills of infusion.
o   Many recommended resources were located in the libraries but teachers were unaware of their existence.
o   They were constrained by lack of training in the use as well as the application of these resources.
These findings have serious implications for students’ future survival and an effective delivery of HFLE.
At the 39th Meeting of the Social Services Committee on Nov. 12, 2010, I raised the question about gangs and violence in schools.
·   The Chief Education officer Mr. Roopnarine Tewari gave a strong answer and I quote “I will like to say clearly and unambiguously that we do not have violence in schools”.
·   Yet just a few months before the Hon. Minister of Education stated very passionately as it is reported in Kaieteur News on May 1, 2010 that “evidence of “Gaza and Gully” in the school system seems to have invaded the system and has had a negative impact on some students. Of recent, the Minister said that the unthinkable has occurred in the local school system where there appears to be evidence of the formation of gangs and cliques creating unnecessary havoc in some schools”.
·   This is a very contradicting report on the issue of violence in our schools by the Hon Minister and his Chief Education Officer. Why would Mr. Tewari want to mislead us as Members of Parliament? If the Chief Education Officer cannot identify a problem he will not be able to solve it.
·   Mr. Tewari also mentioned that school age children are accepted in schools with out birth certificates and the ministry is assisting school age children to acquire birth certificates. Yet many children as well as adults do not have birth certificates, especially in the hinterland.
·   He also assured us that the Ministry is monitoring and supervising the teachers so that they do not with hold the curriculum from the students. But they are still complains from students who can ill afford extra lessons that the curriculum is not completed in school and they are pressured into accepting extra lessons.
I would like to thank our Chairperson Mrs. Indranie Chandarpal for her true statement when she spoke on behalf of the Committee “We are satisfied with some of the explanations that you have provided…. For those areas that we have pointed out, there are still challenges and we would like you to focus on them and we want you to know that you can count on the support of the Committee”.
In this ninth Parliament of Guyana 2006-2011, as a first-time MP I had the privilege to work with members who are cooperative in the Social Services Committee. Thank you fellow Members of the Social Services Committee, staff of the Committee and the representatives from the Ministries that made presentations at this Committee.