New Education Minister meets with MISU to discuss e-learning strategies

Aug 11, 2020 News

Manickchand during the meeting yesterday with MISU staff.

Newly-appointed Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand yesterday met with the Management Information Systems Unit (MISU) of the Ministry to discuss effective strategies for e-learning.
The meeting was attended by Head of the MISU, Indar Singh; the Chief Planning Officer (CPO), Nicola Johnson; Assistant Chief Education Officer- Nursery, Samanatha Williams; Systems Development Coordinator, Imran Mohamed; and the Director of National Center of Educational Resources Development (NCERD), Jennifer Cumberbatch.

Minister of Education, Priya Manickhand

The meeting, according to the ministry, was intended to formulate effective and efficient strategies to provide e-learning education for students in Guyana given the presence of the novel coronavirus. This includes seeing students being able to access schooling from home in order to prevent the potential spread of the COVID-19. No decision was taken, however, on whether these strategies will be implemented for the upcoming school year.Minister Manickchand had met over the weekend with Minister of Health Dr. Frank Anthony, former Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, along with senior health officials to discuss the safety of students and the potential re-opening of schools. These officials included Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud and Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Karen Gordon-Boyle. A source within the Ministry of Health stated that upon the conclusion of that meeting, the initiative of introducing e-learning surfaced.
Following her swearing-in last Wednesday, Manickchand had expressed that the safety of all staff and students in schools is the ministry’s top priority as the new school year approaches. She further added that the ministry will be looking at the science, data, and reality the livelihood of families to determine the best way forward. She also stated that the ministry will be taking into account global best practices and comparing them to Guyana’s education system to see what works best.