PNCR calls for rectification of education system

Oct 06, 2012 News

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The education system is in crisis, a state of affairs that warrants urgent rectification. In fact, this task is currently high on the agenda of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) even as the political party engages a series of activities to celebrate its 55th anniversary. The PNC was founded on October 5, 1957, by former Executive President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham.
Speaking yesterday at a press conference at the party’s Sophia, Georgetown, Congress Place headquarters, PNCR Leader Brigadier (ret.) David Granger underscored that one of the earliest and clearest policy declarations of the party was “to establish real equity of opportunity”.
He noted that the need “to establish real equity of opportunity” is as dire today as it was 55 years ago. Against this background, he said that the party’s first commitment today and its challenge in the future is “to rectify the national education system so that every Guyanese child can receive a good education”.
Granger alluded to an alarming rate of drop-outs at both the primary and secondary levels, adding that “there is probably a drop-out every hour of the day and a lot of these drop-outs are illiterate.” This dilemma, he said, is coupled by the problem of overcrowding at schools, a situation which is particularly evident in the hinterland communities. He revealed that there are some 2,500 Amerindian children who are currently attending schools in the hinterland, from Port Kaituma in the north all the way to Aishalton in the south, adding that “many of these schools are plagued by overcrowding. There is a shortage of teachers and sometimes even a shortage of food, because these children travel from great distances away to live in those schools (dormitories) during the term.”
Among the existing problems is the fact that some students in the Upper Mazaruni who qualify for secondary schools have been kept in their villages, because the highest level of edification is available at Primary Tops. Further compounding the situation in the hinterland are reported cases of substance abuse, which, according to Granger, has seen some students being expelled from school.
He speculated, however, that the existing problems do not originate within the school system, but are far-reaching even to the level of the University of Guyana and the Cyril Potter College of Education.
“We feel that unless the problems at the University of Guyana level are solved, we will not be able to produce a better quality of teachers in greater numbers,” Granger said.
In light of this, he noted that efforts have been made to meet with the Staff Association, the Workers’ Union and the Students’ Society of the University in order to address the problems facing the institution. In fact, he revealed that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), to which the PNCR is affiliated, had pioneered a petition in the National Assembly aimed at rectifying the problems at UG.

Treatment of Teachers
A significant part of the problems occurring in the education sector is linked to the way teachers are remunerated and treated, Granger added, even as he pointed out that “we want teachers to be better paid; we want teachers to have better facilities and we want the teachers’ tenure of service to be extended beyond 55 years (of age).”
Emphasising the importance of extending teachers’ retirement age, Granger stressed that people who are over the age of 55 are still very capable of teaching even as he noted that even the Ministry of Education has had to resort to re-employing some.
According to Granger, the re-employment of teachers should in fact become a normal condition, noting that “we feel confident that if teachers are treated properly and better by Government more of them would stay rather than run away to Belize, the Bahamas and Botswana.”
“We feel that if the schools are made ready by providing better furnishing, laboratories and even functional toilet facilities, things could improve…some schools’ conditions are so bad and government is not capable of reversing the existing trend. We need to rectify these problems and if we don’t solve the problems in education where will this country be 12 years from now?”
In addition to this, he said that the party has been advocating for every teacher attending CPCE to be given one laptop, adding that “we were the ones to initiate the call for one laptop per teacher…There are many who do not attend the programme at CPCE, but are teaching in their home area and they need to be in communication.”

Need for collaboration
Despite its desire to see a change in the education sector, Granger did admit that there is no direct day-to-day communication by the party with the Ministry of Education. He, however, sought to point out that there is a shadow cabinet of 10 ministers, among them a Shadow Minister of Education, adding that “we have asked the government to ensure that its substantive ministers contact our shadow ministers whenever there is need for consultation or whenever there is any change in policy direction.”
According to Granger, his party believes in a Government that is consultative, and collaborative features that are not obtained from the ruling party. He alluded to planning for the national budget and the call of the opposition for the establishment of a tripartite budget committee in order to prevent “a collision”.
“We don’t just want to avoid a collision on financial matters but also in education, foreign policies, human services and environment. There is no day-to-day collaboration but the government is aware of our policy and we would like the government to be more forthcoming in collaborating with us to ensure that there is a solution to the education crisis,” Granger asserted.

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