Over 100 missing students return to classroom learning in Region Four

Mar 04, 2022 News

---

By Rehanna Ramsay

Kaieteur News – The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt had an adverse effect on Guyana’s education system. As a result of school closures and the inability of many students to access online learning, many have suffered from learning loss while some have been absent from school for an extended period. The Ministry of Education (MoE) has gradually been employing efforts to return students to classroom learning.

With a plan to restart face- to-face learning in school across all grades after the Easter holidays, the Ministry of Education has made a concerted effort to get students who have been absent, back to the classrooms. This is being done through ‘Operation Recovery’, a programme specifically designed to address absenteeism.
The door-to-door operation undertaken by members of the Ministry, community leaders and top government officials has in the first few days, resulted in visits, conducted to over 538 homes in Regions One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Nine and Ten. In the first week, for Region Four alone, out of over 256 students who have not been attending schools, 126 of those students have been located by Ministry officials and just over 100 of them have returned to the classrooms.
Speaking on the issue recently, Chief Education Officer (CEO) Dr. Marcel Hutson explained that some of the reasons for absenteeism included financial constraints, unstable families, illness, babysitting younger children, migration and lack of school supplies among others.
He said that for those students, the Ministry of Education has undertaken to provide the required assistance and access to welfare officers in some cases while those who were ill have since returned to the classrooms.
According to Dr. Hutson, Operation Recovery was designed to ultimately ensure that students are back in schools. “First of all, as educators we understand our role and secondly just out of pure compassion for our students we are reaching out to them because we know the long-term effects not having an education will have on their lives,” Dr. Hutson stated.
He explained too that the MoE has redesigned the curriculum to suit the students who had been out of the system for the two year period. “We are using a consolidated curriculum where we compressed the information that would have been missed by the students… We have also engaged our teachers to do some revision and remedial teaching with students to close that learning gap,” he said
Dr. Hutson noted nonetheless that the struggle for some students is very real.
“When we went looking for those children, we realized that for a lot of them, the struggle is real. Some students need finances, some were looking at transportation and other types of difficulties,” he said adding that the MoE’s welfare department has been involved to provide adequate support to parents and students needing it.”
Similarly, Regional Education Officer for Region Four …revealed that the welfare officers have been part of efforts to provide psychosocial support to the children and their parents where necessary. She said “Parents have been meeting with school welfare officers to help them get the missing students reintegrated into the school system. Some of them have legitimate reasons for staying away …we have children who have lost close loved ones to COVID-19 so their fear is real and we have to work with them to provide psychosocial support, where necessary.”
Meanwhile Education Minister, Priya Manickchand indicated the Ministry of Education is looking to have all schools at every level fully reopened after the Easter break. The Minister explained that a full return to the classroom will mean no rotations and no online engagement being facilitated at the nursery, primary or secondary levels. The Minister said however that the benefits of integrating distance delivery will be integrated as far as it can in the face to face delivery of education and that the ministry had planned in that regard.
She said that this move will allow the education sector to better address the issue of learning loss. Manickchand added that having the pupils back in school fully will mean that all Guyanese have to act responsibly as it relates to COVID-19 since it is not going anywhere. The Education Minister further explained that the sector cannot expand its schools at the rate necessary to ensure there is one child seated on a bench or six feet apart. She said, “If we were to do it, children will be rotating for the next three to four years and that will be the loss of an entire generation for this country. That’s not going to be something a growing Guyana can tolerate.”

---

---