Guyana participates in UN Transforming Education summit

Sep 19, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Guyana is currently being represented at the United Nations Transforming Education Summit in New York, which opened on Friday and will conclude today.

The Ministry of Education’s School Feeding Coordinator, Mr. Mahendra Phagwah, is in the United States at the invitation of the United Nations Foundation to attend the Transforming Education Summit at the United Nations hosted in New York.

The Ministry of Education’s Chief Planning Officer, Ms. Nicola Johnson, Legal Officer and Public Relations Manager, Mr. Murtland Haley along with Guyana’s top performing Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) 2022 Mr. Bhedesh Persaud and Ms. Loiselle Robinson, a teacher from the Barima-Waini region (Region One) are attending the event.

Over the past few days, the team has benefitted from numerous discussions. These included Schools 2030: Reimagining the Roles of Schools, Systems and Societies for the Future of Teaching and Learning; Learning Passport: A Digital Future for Every Child; Tackling Inequality and Transforming Classrooms through Social and Emotional Learning; and Financial Literacy: A universal 21st Century Skill- Lessons Learned from Low- and Middle- Income countries.

Mahendra Phagwah and other participants at the summit

The Transforming Education Summit was convened in response to a global crisis in education – one of equity and inclusion, quality and relevance. Many studies have shown that this crisis is having a devastating impact on the futures of children and youth globally. The Summit provides a unique opportunity to elevate education to the top of the global political agenda and to mobilize action, ambition, solidarity and solutions to recover pandemic-related learning losses and sow the seeds to transform education in a rapidly changing world.

In June 2022, Samuel Haynes and Hansranie Budnie joined Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand in Paris, France to represent Guyana at the Pre-Summit. The two participated in a dedicated Youth Forum with their topic, “the right to be heard”.

Minister Manickchand believes strongly that it is imperative that the young people of Guyana be exposed to local global leadership on various issues. As such, under her leadership, numerous young people from across Guyana have been given opportunities share their views and make positive contributions not only to the country’s education sector but to the overall development of Guyana.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education’s School Feeding Coordinator, Mahendra Phagwah, is also in the United States at the invitation of the United Nations Foundation to attend the summit. Phagwah is representing Guyana as a speaker at several high-level events joining Heads of States and Ministers of Educations where he is speaking on why school feeding is important to transforming education at the Ford’s Foundation by the United Nations Foundation and Reimaging the Future of Learning for Sustainability and Inclusivity on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Mr. Phagwah is also the only Guyanese researcher behind the “By Us For Us, Rewiring Education for a New Generation” launched in Dubai, UAE of last year which has now led to the launching of a new report “Rewiring Education for People and Planet” at the Transforming Education Summit.

The report, developed in partnership with the Education Commission, pulls together the main outcomes and recommendations from the RewirEd Summit to make sure they are taken forward and implemented. The report presents six concrete, win-win solutions that align action across sectors and stakeholders for which education is both the fundamental vehicle and goal.