Latest update November 13th, 2024 1:00 AM
Second reading of new proposed Education Legislation deferred
– Opposition needs time to scrutinise further
Although the second reading of the New Education Bill was initially proposed for today in the National Assembly, this much anticipated undertaking has been deferred.
Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand
According to Minister of Education Priya Manickchand the development represents part of her effort to honour a request from A Partnership for National Unity (APNU’) s Shadow Minister, Ms. Amna Ally.
Manickchand disclosed yesterday that “I have been asked by the Shadow Minister of Education that we put it off a little bit so that they (APNU) can have more time to look at it.”
The Education Minister, who was at the time addressing a gathering at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), informed that “I have agreed to put it off, I think until the next sitting of Parliament, which should be soon and so we won’t be debating it tomorrow (today).”
The Bill is one designed to address, among other things, the quality of education at all levels, even within public and private educational institutions. It is therefore intended to repeal and replace the archaic Education Act currently in existence. It was crafted following consultations with stakeholders across the country, and therefore seeks to reform the legal framework of education in Guyana, and provide an effective system of education related to the needs of the people.
And since Article 149H (1) of the Constitution mandates that every child is entitled to free primary and secondary education in schools owned or funded by the State, the Bill makes provision for such a realisation which is however, subjected “to available resources of the State and the availability of educational facilities to all persons in Guyana.”
Also contained in the Bill are provisions for ensuring free education to all persons and a component that speaks to quality education at all levels, both in public as well as private schools, and other educational institutions in Guyana.
Further still, the Bill is outfitted with a component to cater to the strengthening of the existing school management system so that it allows for the maximum participation of parents and teachers in the management of schools.
The Bill which also provides for the disciplining of children in the school environment, is being touted as a mechanism that contains measures that will “ensure for the benefit of children, enhancing their talents, mental and physical and ensuring a rounded education in all schools.”
And Minister Manickchand told the gathering at NCERD yesterday that the Education Bill is premised on a common theme which emphasises “how we can make our system practical and useful while making sure that we are catering for a modern Guyana as against what the previous Bill catered for.”
The first reading of the Bill was done at the previous sitting of Parliament; an undertaking that comes at a time “when a lot of things are happening in Education,” according to the Education Minister. She made a point of noting yesterday that the Bill is the first whole education legislation that has been proposed since Guyana gained its independence in 1966.
Currently, the Education Ministry is in the process of finalising its Strategic Plan which will guide its work for the next five years. The previous Strategic Plan expired last year, having spanned the period 2008-2013.
It is expected that the Strategic Plan currently under construction will be published shortly, according to the Education Minister. “Our entire theme will be on focusing on how do we make sure our children are learning, and becoming the kinds of practical citizens that Guyana needs to take our development to the next level?”
Moreover, Manickchand noted that “all of what we are doing in that plan – everything in Literacy, Science, Mathematics and Special Needs Education – all the areas we are focused on will be on improving our learning outcomes.”
And according to the Minister too “we are excitedly working on that so that we can finish it shortly and expose to the nation and education partners exactly what is going to happen in the Ministry of Education over the next five years.”
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